/^'r N'T'T'^^^ ■"? ~P'.5=^=^^^; , r~^ 



i^cm 




n 



A 



X, V ) 










COEfl^IGHT DEPOSm 



1^^ 

V 






^_.. ■'Its*' * < • *' 






4 * 



./: 







• ^^ :. 



4 ^ . 









« 
jt 






» * J ,-''^^ ^ « ^ 



>^ * 



w • . ^' 






% 









^ d^ « 






^i^/^^>i;^ v*^ 












^'.ti. 'il t 






** 



-*^,^ 



Ajt. 



3 L*/ 



.J*^ 



*^ 




4* 



^^.3 






V Jti 



i^ 

f 

« 








REV. J. B. J. RHODES 



THOUGHTS 



FOR 



QUIET HOURS 



THROUGH THE YEAR 




By REV. J; B. J. RHODES 

Member of the 

New Jersey Annual Conference, Methodist Episcopal Church 



INTRODUCTION 

—bx,— 

Rev. L. W. Munhall. A. M., D. D. 

Evangelist and Author 



> 



1918 
Long Branch, N. J. 



i 






Copyright by Rev. J. B. J. Rhodes. 1918 



• • • 



JAN -4 1919 



©CI.A508868 



w 



^ 






To Mv Wife 
Fannie Ingalls Rhodes 

this little volume 
is affectionately dedicated 



1 



INTRODUCTION 

This old sin-cursed, war-scarred world is heaving and yeasting 
in the throes of the most horrible tragedy it has ever known, — 
furious in the restlessness of unstable and unsatisfying things. 
Thrones are crumbling, dynasties failing, hopes perishing, hearts 
aching and breaking, while the fiends of earth and hell are running 
riot. But in the darkest hour of the world's agony may be heard, 
above the roar of battle, the voice of Him who has all power and 
authority in heaven and upon earth saying — *'My peace I give 
unto you, not as the world giveth, give I unto you; let not your 
heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." He **is our refuge and 
strength, a very present help in trouble." 

Apart from the confusion and horrors of national strife, is the 
fact that this is a restless age. We are driving so fast and furiously 
that one has but little chance or time to think calmly upon the 
weighty and solemn problems of Hfe and eternity. Many of our 
people cannot find time to attend the regular services of the Church ; 
and some of those who do attend find it difficult to concentrate and 
keep their minds upon the worship of the house of prayer and the 
things that make for righteousness and peace. Helping any one to 
understand that **the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the 
effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance forever," in these 
dark, stormy and trying times ; and into the sweet experience of that 
peace which passeth all understanding," is most surely a greatly 
needed and God-appointed ministry, — and the author of this vol- 
ume has certainly been guided and blessed of God in the work he 
has done ; and without doubt, the volume will be a means of bless- 
ing to all who will give attention to it. I pray God's favor to 
accompany it on its mission of love. 

L. W. MUNHALL. 
Germantown, Phila., Pa. 
October 10, 1918. 



AUTHOR'S PREFACE 

In sending forth this little volume, our chief desire has been to 
present to the reader such thoughts for the **Quiet Hours" of life 
as will strengthen his Faith in God, and in the **Hope that maketh 
not ashamed**. 

We make no claim for it of literary excellence, or even of 
definite originality. The Truths herein set forth are very ancient, 
but nevertheless still remain as bulwarks to the common faith of 
humanity. With the Psalmist, we may say: 

"While I was musing the fire burned.*' 

J. B. J. RHODES. 

Simpson Memorial Parsonage, 
Long Branch, N, J. 
Octobers/, 1918. 



JANUARY 

Do not lool^ at lifes long sorrow; 

See hon? small each moments pain; 
Cod Tvill help thee for tomorrow , 

So each day begin again. 

Every hour that fleets so slowly 

Has its task ^o do or hear; 
Luminous the crown, and holy. 

When each gem is set with care. 

Do not linger with regretting. 
Or for passing hours despond; 

Nor the daily toil forgetting. 
Look too eagerly beyond. 

Hours are golden linl^s, God*s token 
Reaching heaven; but one by one 

Take them, lest the chain be broken 
Ere the pilgrimage be done. 

— Adelaide A. Proctor. 



First Sunday 



A MOTTO FOR THE NEW YEAR 

*' Forgetting the things which are behind, and stretching forTPard to 
the things which are before, I press on toward the goal unto the 
prize of the high calling of Cod in Christ Jesus,'' — St. Paul. 



UNQUESTIONABLY the key-note of human history has 
been ** Progress". We may certainly affirm that so far as 
the teachings of the Bible are concerned, ''progress" in the 
kingdom of God is the one theme that is emphasized. What did 
the patriarchs, prophets and leaders of Old Testament times say? 
Did they not command Israel to "Go forward" and possess the 
rich pasture lands of Canaan ? 

When John the Baptist, and later Jesus, came, it was to 
summon all true followers to the advance movement of the King- 
dom toward the higher life of Christian love. In the above motto, 
the Apostle Paul, after a life of unusual hardship and toil, feeling 
the tides of material life ebbing from him, sounds the note of 
Christian optimism. Progress in the Christian life. Here then is 
our thought for the new year, 

Paul uses the figure of the racers, who "when performing 
their feats in competition, reach forward, in their rushing intensity, 
with both body and arms, and think of nothing — neither that which 
is in the present, nor that which is behind — but measuring the 
distance before them, with their eyes fixed upon it, and are strain- 
ing every nerve each to touch the goal first, and win the prize/* 
Grecian history relates that one Ladis, fell down dead, as soon as 

10 



he had received the prize, showing what men will sometimes do to 
win the fading honors and prizes of the present life. 

There may be a past from which we shrink, but the prize 
is set before us. The Christian's prayer is 

** Teach me to live and find my life in Thee, 
Looking from earth and earthl]) things away. 
Let me not falter, but untiringly 

Press on and gain new strength and power each day** 




FIVE NEW YEAR RESOLVES 

1. I will forgive all offenses. 

2. I will pray every day for my Church, my neighbors and my 

Country. 

3. I vsall express appreciation for all blessings or favors received. 

4. I will not drink, nor encourage the use of intoxicating liquors, as 

a beverage. 

5. I will not indulge in idle gossip, nor encourage it in others. 



II 



Second Sunday 



THE TREASURIES OF THE SNOW 

^*Hasi thou entered the treasuries of the snow?** — Job, 



THE beautiful snow is Winter's choicest gift. **The dews of 
a thousand Summers wait in the womb of the snow.'* So 
wrote Bayard Taylor. **Snowflakes are feathers dropped 
from birds of Paradise in the ether blue. Sunbeams kiss them and 
the tints of Paradise thus are born anew", declares Helen W. 
Grove. 

Truly from our Creator, falling snowflakes bring messages to 
earth. They teach us a lesson of Purit}), Their whiteness suggests 
this. King David prayed: '*Wash me and I shall be whiter than 
snow". Describing his vision of Christ, St. John on Patmos wrote: 
**His hair and his head were as white as snow". And does not 
this universal whiteness of the snow remind us all of the purity of 
heart that characterizes the true people of God? The world's 
Redeemer said: **Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see 
God". 

Snowflakes also bring a message of Beauty, Scientists catch- 
ing the falling flakes have classified them as crystals in a thousand 
exquisite forms of star and cross and crown. Observing the frost- 
work^ — the rainbows in icicles and jewels in silvery drapery falling 
around us — are we not impressed with the finished character of the 
architecture ? 

Behold their message of Power. Emerson describes a snow 
drift as **the north wind's masonry". A single snowflake will melt 

12 



on a baby's finger, but piled up on streets and railways it defies 
the mightiest armies and engines. 

**Over the countr]^, the hills and the plains. 
Piling up higher and blocking the trains; 
Stopping the mails from far and near. 
Shutting off news from friends so dear. 
Even Cupid himself must hang up his hotv. 
Suspending his ivork, 'because of the snolp'." 

M. W. GiFFORD. 



SNOW FLAKES 

Out of the bosom of the Air, 

Out of the cloud-folds of her garments shaken 
Over the woodlands brown and bare. 
Over the harvest-fields forsaken. 
Silent and soft, and slow 
Descends the snow. 

Even as our cloudy fancies take 

Suddenly shape in some divine expression. 
Even as the troubled heart doth make 
In the white countenance confession. 
The troubled sky reveals 
The grief it feels. 

This is the poem of the air, 

Slowly in silent syllables recorded; 
This is the secret of despair. 

Long in its cloudy bosom hoarded. 
Now whispered and revealed 
To wood and field. 

— H. W, Longfellow. 



13 



Third Sunday 



THE BOOK OF GOD 

*'See^ ^e out of the Book ^i Jehovah and read,** — Isaiah, 



BOOKS are a mighty power for good or evil, according to 
their character. In all ages the Bible, as compared with 

other books, has held a conspicuous place. Sir Walter Scott 
said: **There is only one book — the Bible". Charles A. Dana de- 
clared **There is no book from which more valuable lessons can 
be learned". Luther wrote: **The Scriptures are the legacy of the 
early Church to universal humanity; they are the equal and treas- 
ured inheritance of all nations, and tribes, and kindreds upon the 
face of the earth, and will be till the day of judgment". 

The Bible has a wonderful history. It has met and overcome 
all books foreign to its character. The greatest writers and mu- 
sicians of the world have drawn from it their loftiest themes. 
Artists have illustrated the precepts of the Book and became fa- 
mous. Musical composers have blended in harmony and song the 
spirit of the Book. During the Reformation it passed through a 
long war, but was victorious. Its teachings, when obeyed, have 
always proven beneficial to individuals and nations. Bishop Fowler 
once said: ''Marvelous book. Full of divine life and power. No 
one can touch even the hem of its garment without being healed. 
No one can come near enough even to stone it without being 
blessed. It stands alone without a rival — even its enemies them- 
selves being judges". 

14 



Whittier truthfully sings: 

**IVe search the world for truth; we cull 
The good, the pure, the beautiful. 
From graven stone and written scroll. 
From the old flower-fields of the soul. 
And, weary seeders for the best. 
We come back laden from the quest. 
To find that all the sages said 
Is in the book our Mothers read*' 

This Book of books should be prized by all. It is the word 
of Truth. Let not the dust gather upon its cover; nor its precepts 
go unheeded in your life. 




GOD'S MESSAGE 

The Bible is God*s message to us. But to many of us it is 
not much more than an inscription is to the roving shepherds of the 
plain. Even the precepts of Jesus, so clear and so easily applied 
to life in any age and circumstances, are read by us and heard 
with little thought that they are God's direct call down the cen- 
turies to us to heed and do what they say. 

Is the Bible God's message to you? That depends, not on 
what you say you believe about the Bible, but on what you do 
^th the word that God through the Bible is this day bringing to 
you. The Bible is a wonder, and a monument; but it is not a mes- 
sage until it has reached a heart and come forth in holiness and 
service. 

— Alexander McCalL 



15 



• < 



Fourth Sunday 



THE PERFECT RULE FOR LIFE 

All things therefore whatsoever ^e would that men should do unto 
^ou, even so do pe also unto them; for this is the law and the 
prophets/' — Jesus, 



HEREIN is found the Golden Rule, so-called because of its 
antiquity, its lofty ideal and its general acceptance by man- 
kind. It is the perfect rule for every life. Christ lived by it 
and commends it to all men — rich, poor, savage, citizen, king and 
peasant. Its standard of action tow^ard others is self; its standard 
of relations is the rights of others. 

Is it practicable? Try it. Do you want your neighbor to 
hate you? Hate him. Respect you? Respect him. Forgive you? 
Forgive him. To love you? Love him. Echo aWays gives back 
the same word that is spoken. Jesus said: '*Love your enemies; 
bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you and pray 
for them which despitefully use you and persecute you, that ye 
may be the children of your Father which is in heaven". 

Here is the rule for the laborer and the capitalist; the em- 
ploye and the employer ; the ruler and the subject ; the master and 
the servant; the cultured and the ignorant; the saint and the sinner. 

This is the rule that not only works, but never fails to work 
when men apply it. **This is the law and the prophets." 

The golden rule will also be the rule of the Golden age — 

yet to be. So sings Walt Whitman : 

**The song is to the singer and comes hacl^ most to him; 
The love is to the lover and comes back mvst to him; 
The gift is to the giver and comes hack most to him — 
It cannot fail.** 

16 



FEBRUARY 

**lVe shall Jval^e up and find that the frost-spirit has been at 
Work all night building Gothic cathedrals on our mndoTDS. * * * 
The silent falling of the snow is to me one of the most solemn 
things in Nature. The fall of autumnal leaves does not so much 
affect me. * * * And ever faster fell the snow, a roaring torrent 
from those mountainous clouds. * * * Thus the evening set in; and 
Winter stood at the gate wagging his white and shagg'^ beard, like 
an old harper chanting an old rh^me: 'How cold it is! How cold 
li is! 

— H. W. Longfellow in ''Hyperion.'' 



Fifth Sunday 



THE QUIET HOUR 

''Be still and k^oia> that I am Cod,*' — Psalmist. 



THE quiet of a shadow haunted pool 
Where light breaks through in glorious tenderness. 
Where the hushed pilgrim in the shadow cool 
Forgets the way's distress — 
Such is this hour, this silent hour with Thee. 

The trouble of the restless heart is still; 
And every swaying wish breathes reverently 
The whisper of Thy will." 

Not sorrow's hour ; nor the quiet of indifference ; nor of stifled 
emotions. But the quiet hour of reflection; of prayer; of submis- 
sion to the call of the Divine; the hour of worship; of spiritual 
relaxation. 

It is needful. The times are strenuous. The demands are in- 
cessant. The nervous strain exhausting. The quiet hour provides 
the remedy for over-taxed, anxious-hearted souls. Emerson de- 
clared that **Great deeds are born in solitude". The Man of 
Galilee frequently entered into the soHtary place and prayed. 

The hour of quietness yields many blessed fruits. It is the 
secret of inward strength. By it is furnished power to endure and 
serve upon the battlefields of life. General Grant was known as 
the **silent man," but there was none greater on the field of conflict. 

It is the secret of inward peace. The world seems full of 
discord, strife, misery and trouble. There is a solace in silence. 

18 



Secret sins and hidden tragedies must be confessed. The quiet hour 
brings the sinner to the altar of penitence. Peace comes when war 
ceases. 

**Study to be quiet" is the Apostolic injunction. Make a 
place for the quiet hour in your daily program. **He who dwells 
much in the temple of silence learns to know himself. He who 
knows himself is close to God." 




THE POWER OF QUIETNESS 

Forget not the unmeasured ministry of these rarest souls who 
have modestly shrunk from public gaze, yet who have created an 
atmosphere on which the nurture of our nobler self so much de- 
pends. Flowers may bloom in the hidden recess of the forest; the 
nightingale may send forth his worthiest note upon the silent, un- 
responding night, but shaping the very heart of things, and guard- 
ing the common weal, are those unobtrusive souls who give their 
largess to the world's great work. Quiet are the stars. Asleep the 
magic forces of nature seem. Silent are the souls of some men, yet 
how beneficent in worth! Underrated by reason of their obscurity, 
yet easier is it **to bind the sweet influences of Pleiades or loose the 
bands of Orion" than to restrain the salutary effect of a quiet* 
reverent life. 

— John Humphrey, in Methodist Revierp. 



19 



Sixth Sunday 

THE OPPORTUNITY OF YOUTH 

**Le/ no man despise thy youth** — Saint Paul, 



WHEN David presented himself to King Saul as a volunteer 
to fight the giant Goliath, the king looked at his ruddy 
face and said: '*Thou art but a youth, and he is a man 
of w^ar from his youth". But David was not frightened by this 
fact. The consent of the king vv^as finally given; David vv^ent up 
to battle in the name of the Lord and the giant w^as slain. Do we 
not learn from this incident that no man is able to estimate the 
power of the youth who has God on his side. It is so of every 
youth who goes to battle against the enemies of life. With God 
on his side, victory is certain. 

Those familiar with the writings of Paul cannot fail to notice 
his deep interest in young men. The age in which we are now 
living has seen a marked awakening in the estimate which Pau/ 
has placed upon the power of consecrated youth. We believe these 
utterances estimate in general terms the opportunity placed before 
the youth in all periods of time. 

Paul declares that it is within the power of every youth to 
live in honor and beyond reproach. He shows that a pure life is 
the strongest recommendation. A reputation for boldness, unrefined 
conduct, lewdness and many other undesirable habits in the life of 
the youth is usually the result of causes of like nature. Paul's word 
of counsel to youth is, that they may so order their lives that none 
shall have honest occasion to speak of them in dishonor or re- 
proach. 

20 



The ideal then is a pure life ; not for the sake merely of repu- 
tation — though this is commendable — but purity of life because 
God hath said: ** Blessed is the man who walketh not in the counsd 
of the wicked, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the 
seat of scoffers". 

*Vs the ^oung man safe?** the heart-wrung cry 
Has an age-long ring that brings it nigh, 
*Tis the nameless dread at the father s heart. 
As he sees his son from the home depart; 
*Tis the burden of many a mother* s prayer 
For the boy who wanders she J^nows not where; 
*Tis the harrowing fear that will not sleep 
Till it plows in the forehead its furrows deep. 

— Record of Christian Work. 



yi 



IMPROVEMENT OF OPPORTUNITY 

You do well to improve your opportunity; to speak in the 
rural phrase, this is your sowing time, and the sheaves you look for 
can never be yours, unless you make that use of it. The color of 
our whole life is generally such as the three or four first years in 
which we are our ovsni masters, make it. Then it is that we may 
be said to shape our destiny, and to treasure up for ourselves a 
series of future successes or disappointments. 

— CoTPper, 



21 



Seventh Sunday 



THE WELL-SPRING OF EVERLAST- 
ING LIFE 

**The water I shall give shall become mthin a well of water 

springing up unto eternal life.'* — Jesus, 



HO! every one that thirsts draw nigh: 
'Tis God invites the fallen race: 
Mercy and free salvation buy; 
Buy wine, and milk, and gospel grace. 
Come to the living waters, come ! 
Sinners, obey your Maker's call. 
Return ye weary wanderers, home. 
And find my grace is free for all.*' 

— Charles Wesley. 

By the side of Jacob's well Jesus taught an erring soul the 
secret of the Christian's enlarging life. The point of contact was a 
drink of water — one of the most common of God's free gifts. Pure 
water from an earthly spring possesses a cleansing, refreshing, beau- 
tifying and fruit-giving power. All physical life is sustained by it, 
and without it, death in a most horrible form ensues. 

Jesus taught the Samaritan woman that as water is essential 
to the sustenance of all physical life, so the water from spiritual 
fountains is essential to the life of the Christian. He said: **The 
water I shall give shall become within a well of water springing up 
unto eternal life". The figure used must not be contrasted to the 
reservoir, the cistern or even a canal. These are but receptacles for 

22 



water. The Saviour promises to put within the soul of all who 
seek from Him the water, a well'Spring of life. It will spring forth 
as a cleansing, refreshing, regenerating and healing power. 

Fellow Christian, have you drunk this living water from the 
cup which the Master offers you? Of Israel it was once said: 
'*They have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living waters, and 
hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water." 
But to Abram Jehovah said: **I will bless thee and be thou a bless- 
ing,'* Shall the request of this penitent Samaritan woman be yours: 
"Lord, give me this water, that I thirst not." 




AN OPEN FOUNTAIN 

It is related of a benevolent man, that he lived in a village 
|M)orly supplied with water. Dry seasons exhausted the wells, and 
reduced the citizens to great straits. About a mile distant was a 
never-failing spring. The waters from this he conducted by pipes 
to the heart of the village, and so furnished a supply at all seasons 
to the inhabitants. This act of generosity touched the people; and, 
when he was dead, they erected a monument to his memory by 
the fountain that he had opened for their benefit. Such a fountain 
has Jesus opened to assauge the thirst and save the lives of perishing 
men. It rises as the river of the water of life out of the throne of 
God and of the Lamb; and the Spirit and the Bride call to the 
thirsting multitudes lining its banks to approach, and partake freely 
of its healing virtue. — Selected, 



23 



Eighth Sunday 



GATHERED LILIES 

*'My beloved is gone don>n to his garden to gather lilies,** — Song 

of Solomon, 



HOW fitting is the comparison between lilies and children. Ib 
nature's garden no sweeter or more beautiful flower grows 
than the lily. In God's great garden of humanity none are 
purer or sweeter than the child. 

Our children — how pure, delicate and beautiful are they. 
Richter wisely says: **The smallest children are nearest to God, as 
the smallest planets are nearest the sun." Because of their inherent 
innocence heaven claims all the children. Jesus said: **To such 
belongeth the kingdom of heaven." 

But the lilies are easily sullied and soon fade, so delicate and 
tender are they. So are the children. The physical organism may 
seem perfect but it is often so easily overpowered by the ravages of 

disease. 

''The air is full of farewells for the dying 
And mourning for the dead; 
The heart of Rachel, for her children crying. 
Will not he comforted,** — LoNGFELLOW. 

There is a garnering time and it is the Beloved Christ who 

walks with quiet step and plucks these choice lilies from his family 

garden. He gathers his own. If only the sorrowing heart can say 

**My beloved", this is the victory. We shall see again these garden 

flowers blooming in a fairer land. 

''And the mother gave in tears and pain 
The flowers she most did love. 
She knew she should find them all again. 
In the fields of light above,** 

24 



MARCH 

Slater of winter, art thou here again? 
O welcome, thou that bringest the summer nigh! 
The bitter wind makes not ih]) victor}^ vain. 
Nor will we mock thee for th^ faint blue s^p. 
Welcome, O March! whose k^ndl'^ days and dr}^ 
Make April ready for the throstle* s song. 
Thou first redresser of the winter s wrong! 

— William Morris. 



Ninth Sunday 



«t 



THE PATH OF THE RIGHTEOUS 

The path of the righteous is as the dawning light, that shineth 
more and more unto the perfect da^,*' — Solomon, 



WALK in the light! and thou shalt own 
Thy darkness passed away. 
Because that Hght hath on thee shone 
In which is perfect day." 

— Bernard Barton. 

After all, righteousness is the only beauty to be desired and 
sought for in this life. Such is unfading and universally admired. 
In all ages the righteous have blazed a trail of light through this 
dark world. What a glorious array of character portraits is pre- 
sented to us in the eleventh chapter of Hebrews. To refresh our 
faith we need only to consider the quality of character thus re- 
vealed. Each is a luminary in the midst of his own generation. Be- 
ginning with Enoch, **who walked with God, and he was not for 
God took him'*, to Moses, who ** accounted the reproach of Christ 
greater riches than the treasures of Egypt", do we not behold the 
dawning light of righteousness in the midst of heathen darkness? 

In a most positive sense this path of the righteous has a 
starting point, a direction and a goal. It begins in the positive 
acknowledgment of the Divine sovereignty, in the direction of a 
godly life, continuing toward the perfect day of eternal bliss. This 
path is frequently illuminated by definite spiritual experiences. As 
there is a sunrise every day upon the earth in the journey of the 

26 



I 



great luminary which brightens the whole earth, so there are sun- 
rise experiences in the soul's journey from earth to heaven. 

We observe also that this path progresses in the midst of the 
steadily increasing light of the Divine presence. There is a growth 
in grace; a righteous discontent; an upward trend. There is a 
light within to impel and a light shining without to guide. 

Finally this path finds its consummation in the Perfect Day 
of the Holy City of God. David in his parting word declares: **He 
shall be as the light of the morning when the sun riseth, a morning 
without clouds". D. L. Moody, the great evangelist, when dying 
shouted: ** Earth is receding; heaven is opening; God is calling me; 
do not call me back." It was the coming of the perfect day to 
his soul. 

**The morning shall awaken^ the shadows shall deca]). 
And each true-hearted servant shall shine as doth the da}^: 
There Cod, our King and portion, in fullness of his grace. 
Shall we behold forever, and worship face to face.** 

— Bernard of Cluny. 



27 



<• 



Tenth Sunday 



LIFE'S BURDENS MADE LIGHT 

Come unto me, all pe thai labor and are heavy laden and I mil 

give you rest,** — Jesus. 



LIFE'S burdens are many and grievous. Paul, the great Apos- 
tle, declares that **Each man shall bear his own burden", 

and then exhorts all Christians to **bear ye one another's 
burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ". 

There are burdens physical and spiritual. No class of hu- 
mans is exempt. Standing alone under their weight mankind fal- 
ters and despairs. 

Who is He, then, that declares Himself to be Hfe's great 
helper; the Supreme Teacher; the perfect example for the wide 
world? He is the man with a yoke and a burden. He does not 
ignore life's burdens, but shows how they may be lightened. 

**Oh, burdened soul; Oh, sick one — come to Me" says Jesus. 
In His fellowship burdens will be lightened. Enroll as a pupil in 
His school. Take His yoke upon yourself, without faltering. 

In a poem by Schiller is the beautiful story about the birds, 
that when they were first created they had no wings; and he says 
that God made the wings, put them down before the birds, and 
said: **Come, take up these burdens and bear them". The birds 
had beautiful plumage and voices. They could sing and shine, 
but they could not soar; but they took up their wings with their 
beaks and laid them upon their shoulders, and at first they seemed 
to be a heavy load and rather difficult to bear, but as they cheer- 

28 



I 



fully and patiently bore them and folded them over their hearts, 
lo, the wings grew fast, and that which they once bore now bore 
them. The burdens became pinions and the weights became wings. 
His yoke is easy because there is a Hning of love; because 
Hfe demands only a true and reasonable service. He gives the 
rest of security ; the rest from struggle with sin and selfishness. 

**/ heard the voice of Jesus sa^^ *Come unto Me and rest; 
La^ dojvn, thou Tveary one, lay down thy head upon mp breasL* 
I came to Jesus as I was, weary and worn and sad; 
I found in Him a resting-place, and He has made me glad,** 

HORATIUS BONAR. 




BEARING BURDENS 

We are those that march through a wilderness, and each one 
carries some burden on his back — of toil, of sorrow, of sin ; and in 
this caravan some go grumbling and complaining all their life be- 
cause of the burden they are bearing, and some try to get their 
burden off slyly on to another's shoulders, and some bear bravely 
their own burden, and march uncomplainingly on; but some — the 
noblest of them all — are they who stand erect, bearing their own 
burdens, then creep up behind others burdened like themselves, and 
put their shoulders beneath the burden of their fellows and lift it. 
lightening the load. Blessed are they who know how to so bear 
their own burdens as joyfully to bear the burdens of others also! 

— Lyman Abbott, D. D. 



29 



Eleventh Sunday 



THE HAPPY LIFE— IT'S SECRET 

^'Keep thy heart rvith all diligence; for out of it are the issues 

of life.** — Solomon, 



HUMAN life of times presents a strange intermingling of 
sorrow and joy. Within a very short period of time there 
may occur simultaneously occasions of great joy and extreme 
sorrow. We do not wonder when asked: **Why these startling 
paradoxes?" 

Still, the world's quest is for happiness. How can it be 
found? What is the remedy for the world's sadness? The wise 
man says: **Out of the heart are the issues of life". We know this 
is true in the world of nature, for life finds its beginning in the 
heart of the seed. All development is from within outward, wheth- 
er it be the sprouting of a seed, the growing of a tree or the bloom- 
ing of a flower. So in the realm of the soul — the heart is the 
reservoir of Hfe. Jesus said: **Out of the abundance of the heart, 
the mouth speaketh". The issues of life are not then in the pocket 
book ; nor in culture but in the heart. Hence the poet sings : 

**True happiness is not the growth of earth. 

The soil IS fruitless if pou seek it there; 
*Tis an exotic of celestial birth. 

And never blooms but in celestial air. 
Sn>eet plant of Paradise, its seeds are soTvn 

In here and there a breast of heavenly mould; 
It rises sloTv and buds, but neer has knorvn 

To blossom here — the climate is too cold.** 

— R. B. Sheridan. 
30 



Happiness is the accompaniment of moral perfection; the 
natural expression of the pure in heart. A happy heart is the 
secret of a happy life. 

Naturalists inform us that the power of the loadstone is in 
the presence of certain congenial elements of nature. Thus the 
happy life is maintained in keeping close to and possessing within 
the power of the great magnet — Christ, for in His presence all 
solicitation of evil fails to draw away from God. David prayed: 
**Create for me a clean heart, O God'*. The Saviour said: 
"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God". All of 
which teaches us to **be good and we will be happy*'. 



X 



HAPPINESS 

The road to home happiness lies over small stepping-stones. 
Slight circumstances are the stumbling-blocks in families. The 
prick of a pin, says the proverb, is enough to make an empire 
insipid. The tenderer the feeling, the more painful the wound. 
A cold, unkind word checks and withers the blossom of the dearest 
love, as the most delicate rings of the vine are troubled by the 
faintest breeze. The misery of life is born of a chance observation. 
If the true history of quarrels, public and private, were honestly 
written, it would be silenced by an uproar of derision. — Selected, 



31 



Twelfth Sunday 



THE MINISTRY OF SONG 

Serve Jehovah mth gladness and come before his presence mih 

singing,** — The Psalmist 



MUSIC has been defined as **A divine art, a universal lan- 
guage, a vehicle of worship, a soothing, inspiring and 
saving force." A writer from Africa says: ** Nothing is 
done there without song. The boatman sings all day long, keeping 
time with his paddles; the woman beating rice beats in time to 
her voice; the carriers sing to their tread; the farmer to his hoe." 

That was a true utterance which says: "Rehgious faith has 
kindled the music of the world". Unbelief has no comforting 
songs; despair no sonnets. Sinful conditions are unfavorable to 
exaltation or praise. Doubt begets no joy. The world has no 
sacred songs, but Christ brought life and immortality to light 
Religion fills the heart with gladness, the mouth with songs of 
praise. To make a man happy is not alwaj^s to change his sur- 
roundings, but change the man. 

Paul, the great Apostle, evidently believed in christian song. 
He writes to the Colossians: *Let the word of Christ dwell in you 
richly; in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with 
psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your 
hearts unto God". 

Our Saviour sang. And why should he not? His heart was 
full of sympathy; he had a clear conscience. He foresaw the 
ultimate triumph of goodness and truth. The Gospel tells us that 

32 



even when the disciples were gathered with Him at the Last 
Supper, He sang. 

How the early Christians must have sung. Indeed the Church 
of Christ has come down through the years like a singing bird with 
the dew of the morning upon its wings. 

Our fathers sang — some of the grand old hymns are echoing 
in our ears to-day. The Church of Christ must ever be a singing 
Church. David had a choir of three hundred voices ; there were in 
the Jewish Church 4,000 Levites who praised God on musical 
instruments. So in our day and generation let us not surrender to 
the forces of evil all the beautiful vehicles of the divine art, but 
capture and hold for God's glory, all instruments of whatever 
name, that we may win men to the discipleship of Jesus, 

**0 for a thousand tongues to sing My great Redeemer's praise. 
The glories of my Cod and King, the triumphs of his grace! 
A/p gracious Master and my Cod, assist me to proclaim. 
To spread through all the earth abroad, the honors of thy name.** 

— ^Charles Wesley. 



33 



Thirteenth Sunday 



IN MEMORIAM 

TO MOTHER, FATHER, BROTHER 

AND SISTER 

** Though I n>a/^ through the valle]) of the shadow of death, I rpttt 
fear no evil; for thou art with me." — David. 



ANSWER me, burning stars of night; where is the spirit gone. 
That, past the reach of human sight, even as a breeze 
hath flown? 
And the stars answer'd me, **We roll in light and power on high. 
But, of the never-dying soul, ask things that cannot die." 

O many-toned and chainless Wind! thou art a wanderer free; 
Tell me if thou its place canst find, far over mount and sea? 
And the Wind murmur'd in reply, **The blue deep I have cross'd. 
And met its barks and billows high, but not what thou hast lost." 

Ye Clouds that gorgeously repose around the setting sun. 
Answer! have ye a home for those whose earthly race has run? 
The bright Clouds answer*d, **We depart, we vanish from the sky; 
Ask what is deathless in thy heart, for that which cannot die!" 

Speak then, thou Voice of God within, thou of the deep low tone ! 
Answer me through life's restless din, where is the Spirit flown? 
And the Voice answer'd, **Be thou still! enough to know is given; 
Clouds, Winds, and Stars their task fulfil, thine is to trust in 

Heaven." 

— Mrs, F. D, Hemans. 

34 



APRIL 

Srveet April! many a thought 

Is wedded unto thee^ as hearts are Tved; 

Nor shall they fail, till, to its autumn brought. 

Lifers golden fruit is shed, 

— H. W. Longfellow. 



• « 



Fourteenth Sunday 



THE EASTER HOPE 

/ am the resurrection and the life,** — Jesus, 



THE Christian doctrine of the resurrection is the answer to 
the oft-repeated question **If a man die, shall he live again?" 
Before his death Jesus said, **I am the resurrection and the 
life." In the fact of the resurrection we see the truth of his words 
and the proof of his divinity. Here Jesus points the road to im- 
mortality. He indeed did bring life and immortality to light. On 
the tombs of the heathen was often seen the epitaph: ** Farewell — 
forever — my brother". The assurance Jesus gives to all his fol- 
lowers is **He that believeth on me, though he die, yet shall he 
live". The interest in this question is universal. The Stoics wavered 
in their attitude toward the future, proudly trying to make the best 
of it. When life became too hard, they tried to end it by self 
destruction. The motto of the Epics was *'Let us eat and drink, 
for to-morrow we die." 

The Christian Church was built upon the conviction and 
proclamation of a risen saviour. Jesus taught this to the disciples. 
St. John and St. Peter witnessed and defended the same. St. Paul 
accepted and defended the teaching. Wherever accepted the teach- 
ing has thrilled the human race with gladness. It brings to the 
world a message of victory. By death Jesus vanquished death. At 
the grave the angel said to the women: **He is risen." 

The teaching of Easter brings a message of Hope.. Without 
Jesus and the resurrection, death obscures our vision. We cannot 

36 



lift the vail. But the resurrection message causes us to say with 
Peter: ''Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
who according to His great mercy begat us again unto a living 
hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, unto an 
inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, 
reserved in heaven for you." 

It brings also a message of Life. In Springtime nature puts 
on new life. The grass, the flowers and the trees are bursting with 
natural energy. Out of the grave of Winter all vegetation rises 
with a song. The resurrection of Jesus adds new power to all his 
words. They are truth and Hfe. The resurrection life is our 
heritage. **If ye then be raised together with Christ, seek the things 
which are above." 




EASTERTIDE 

To-day "the Lord is risen, indeed. 

And hath appeared; *'yet we, as they. 
Are slow the potent truth to heed. 
Nor deem that all man's greatest need 
Is met because of Easter day. 

— Marianne Famingham. 



37 



Fifteenth Sunday 



CHRIST OUR MODEL 



«< 



Christ is all and in all*' — St Paul 



IN the study of duty and destiny, which is of vastly more im- 
portance to humanity than science, Hterature or art, the ques- 
tion naturally arises, who shall be the model in the formation 
of character; in the solution of the problems of duty and destiny? 

We are at first inclined to follow some human example. 
When we observe a noble trait of character in any, we find our- 
selves imitators. This would be well, were it not for the fact that 
we are as apt to imitate the defects of men as well as their virtues. 
Man is not a perfect being, and for this reason we are sometimes 
disappointed in men. At different periods in life men change their 
standards, and are therefore uncertain, as safe guides. No one 
man has ever yet exhibited the perfect life which could at all times 
be a true standard. The most exalted human characters are fallible 
and weak. Are we then to despair in our search for the true 
model? No. 

As no man can make a real success of life without following 
riie highest ideals, so we are to follow the Christ, recognizing in 
Him the true model for all men in all lands. 

Christ is the true model of Obedience. 

He was subject to his parents, honoring them as a son. His 
meat and drink was to do the will of the Father. Obedience to 
ihe moral law is the secret of moral health. 



38 



Christ is our model for victorious conquest. 

**He was tempted in all points like as we are, yet without 
sin.*' He was, and forever will be, conqueror in every conquest. 
He is not a High Priest merely of profession, but has been 
"touched with the feelings of our infirmities**. He bids us be 
brave in life's hard battles. There are no retreats on His Marches. 
Forward is the watchword of His Kingdom. Though born a help- 
less babe His dominion now stretches around the globe. 

Christ is our model of patience and resignation in the midst 
of Life's sufferings. 

While the miracle of his birth is marvelous, was not the sub- 
Kme patience of the Christ a greater one? '*He opened not His 
mouth" when cruel enemies persecuted, and even friends forsook 
Him in the hour of loneliness. His patient and resigned attitude 
should inspire us to imitate these virtues, for by this process the 
pure gold of character is revealed. We may not understand the 
suffering; the temptation; the burden or the task. But we know 
the Christ was patient. 



39 



Sixteenth Sunday 



THE HOUR OF SECRET PRAYER 

**When thou pra}^esU enter into thine inner chamber, and having 
shut thy door, pray to thy Father rvho is in secret,** — Jesus. 



WE do not wonder when the disciples saw and heard the 
Master pray, that they said: **Lord, teach us to pray.** 
They discerned the effect of the prayer hour upon his life. 
Then, if He needed to pray, how much more do all his disciples 
need to learn this holy art. 

What is this wonderful truth ? God is in the secret place ; He 
sees the secrets of all hearts ; He rewards those who seek Him thus. 
Then the secret hour of prayer is not only the Christian's duty, it 
is a gracious privilege and boon. Family prayer may be irksome; 
public prayer a cross; but here is the sacred place for all — the 
hour of secret prayer. 

Fellow Christian, do you feel the need of help? Are you 
discouraged? weary? burdened? lonely? — enter thy secret place; 
shut the door; shut out the busy world; shut thyself in with Him 
who dwelleth in the secret place. He will surely help, encourage, 
strengthen, rest and comfort thee. 

O Lord, I pray 

That for this day 
I may not swerve 

By foot or hand 

From thy command. 
Not to he served, hut to serve. 

40 



This^ too, I pra]) 

That for this da]f 
No love of ease 

Nor pride prevent 

Afp good intent. 
Not to he pleased, but to please. 

And if I ma^ 

Vd have this day 
Strength from above 

To set my heart 

In heavenly art. 
Not to be loved, but to love. 

— Rev. Maltbie D. Babcock. D. D. 




PRAYER 

Grant me, O most loving Lord, to rest in Thee above all 
creatures, above all health and beauty, above all glory and honor, 
above all powder and dignity, above all knowledge and subtilty, 
above all riches and art, above all fame and praise, above all 
sweetness and comfort, above all hope and promise, above all gifts 
and favors that Thou canst give and impart to us, above all jubilee 
that the mind of man can receive and feel ; finally, above all angels 
and archangels, and above all the heavenly host, above all things 
visible and invisible, and above all that Thou art not, O my God. 
It is too small and unsatisfying, whatsoever Thou bestowest on me 
apart from Thee, or revealest to me, or promisest, whilst Thou art 
not seen, and not fully obtained. For surely my heart cannot truly 
rest, nor be entirely contented, until it rest in Thee. Amen. 

— Thomas a Kempis, 



41 



Seventeenth Sunday 



yy 



"AM I MY BROTHER'S KEEPER? 

**//e first findeth his own brother Simon and brought him to Jesus.*^ 

— The Gospel of Jesus. 



WE need, each and all, to be needed. 
To feel we have something to give 
Tow^ard soothing the moan of earth's hunger; 
And we know that only we live 
When we feed one another, as we have been fed. 

From the Hand that gives body and spirit their bread." 

— Lucy Larcom, 
It is undoubtedly true that the nearer we approach one an- 
other the more we feel our brotherhood. A traveler relates the 
following: ** Walking on the mountains one day, I saw a form 
which I took to be a beast. Coming nearer, I saw it was a man; 
approaching nearer still, I found it was my brother." 

When Cain asked **Am I my brother's keeper?" did he not 
show the lack of true brotherly feeling? But Andrew was another 
kind of man. **He first findeth his own brother Simon and brought 
him to Jesus." 

It is not enough to find one's self inside the kingdom. Other 
folks should be brought. Jesus, our Elder Brother, came to **seek 
and save the lost". Without this spirit of personal concern for 
others, how will the kingdom be increased? 

Has the unsaved, unfed, illiterate world about no claim upon 
the saved, well-fed, educated world? Cain tried to ignore his 
brother's claim. Andrew felt it and tried to do his part. Which 
would you rather be? 

42 



And is not the spirit of Cain abroad in the world to-day > 
Many do not seem to care for themselves or for their dearest. But 
thank God for the spirit of Andrew, which is also observed. Many 
do care. All true followers of Christ are concerned about their 
brothers. We are our brother's keeper. We are responsible for his 
moral and spiritual condition. Men wall respond when they are 
sought by those whom they love. Andrew should be imitated. 




WINNING MEN 

That individual soul-winning is the greatest work is part of 
the paradox-principle of the Way of Life. One is more than many. 
The least is the greatest. You cannot reach a thousand unless you 
can reach one. The greatest preaching is the preaching to an indi- 
vidual. The greatest preachers, pastors, evangelists, and mission- 
aries agree as to this. General preaching is preliminary or pre- 
paratory to this end and climax of effort, individual work for 
individuals. 

That it was Christ's preferred method in his earthly ministry 
is seen from a study of the gospels and an examination of the 
relative results of his individual and his general work. Seven of the 
eleven faithful apostles were so won; so also was the last of the 
Apostles, Paul. That it is Christ's preferred method for us to-day 
is seen from the easily proved superior effectiveness of the method 
in every branch of religious and secular life. 

G. Trumbull, 



43 



«c 



Eighteenth Sunday 

SOWING AND REAPING 

Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap/* — St Paul. 



WHEN those who are reproved for certain wrong-doing, 
reply **I don't care'*, they may be standing upon the 
threshold of a great undertaking. Such a spirit in the 
light of knowledge, seems almost like madness. A woman who 
had eleven sons once said to them: **Boys who don't care are very 
apt to come to a bad end." 

What would you think of a locomotive engineer, when being 
told that a certain bridge was unsafe because it was on fire, replied 
**I don't care"? If life was destroyed by such heedlessness, would 
he not be guilty of murder? 

If young people boast of sowing their "wild oats" are warned 
to repent, but say **I don't care", and then as a result of their own 
folly reap a woful harvest, have they not committed spiritual sui- 
cide? 

Indifference to the law of the harvest and the don't care 
spirit has brought disaster to many a promising life. 

Sitting on a curbstone in a dark corner of a great city was a 
young man of the "don't care" type. A friend looked into his 
face. It was once beautiful, but now flushed and bruised. He 
looked up and said **I don't care." How sad. Some mother cared 
once. God above us cared. Early in life he had sown the "don't 
care" spirit; sown to the flesh and of it reaped corruption — a har- 
vest of misery and wretchedness. "But he that soweth to the Spirit, 
shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. 

44 



MAY 

Haily bounteous Ma^! that dost inspire 
Mir thy and youth, and warm desire; 
Woods and groves are of thy dressing. 
Hill and dale doth boast thy blessing. 
Thus we salute thee with our early song. 
And welcome thee and wish thee long. 

— John Milton. 



Nineteenth Sunday 



WHAT IS IN THINE HAND? 

'* Whatsoever thine hand findeth to do, do it with th}) might*' 

— Solomon. 



STUDENTS in physiology tell us that the hand, in its perfec- 
tion, belongs only to man. Its elegance of outline, delicacy of 

mold and beauty of color have made it the study of artists, 
while its adaptation as a perfect instrument have led many philoso- 
phers to atrribute man's superiority even more to the hand than to 
the mind. 

The hand is the symbol of human action. He who lives a 
pure life is said to have pure or clean hands; unjust hands are 
guilty of injustice, etc. When Jacob secured the blessing which 
rightfully belonged to Esau we are told that his hands were clothed 
in fur, that through deception he might secure the blessing promised 
to his brother. These were rightfully hands of deception. It was 
the hand of a murderer, which, though covered, was extended in 
the attitude of friendliness, but held a weapon which shot down 
our third martyred President, William McKinley. His were in- 
deed **hands of blood". And does not the Bible speak of the 
•*slack hand", the *'diHgent hand", the ^'smiting hand", the **hand 
of blessing", and many others? 

The hand is the symbol of opportunity. When Jarius' daugh- 
ter was healed, Jesus took her by the hand and the maid arose. It 
was the opportunity to pass from death to life, as indicated by the 
outstretched hand of the Master. Peter was bold enough to step 
out of the water at the command of Jesus, but when he found him- 

46 



self sinking, Jesus stretched forth his hand. This was Peter's op- 
portunity and had he refused the '*hand" of the Lord, he might 
never have Hved to tell the story. 

The hand is the symbol of friendliness. The scene of David 
and Jonathan in the wilderness of Ziph, strengthening their hands 
in God, will forever illustrate this symbolism. Perhaps we do not 
know the origin of the **hand-shake", but it is now, and always 
has been, an important factor in the spreading of sociabihty. 

There are no empty hands in the race of mankind. All men 
have their sphere of activity; their opportunity for development; 
may exercise the grace of friendliness. God said to Moses: **What 
is in thine hand?*'. It may be only a rod, but when used for the 
glory of God, may become a mighty agency for doing good in 
the world. David, what is in thine hand? A sHng, with only five 
smooth stones. Go out in the name of God and smite the mighty 
giant. And he did so. Widow at the treasury, what is in thine 
hand ? Only a mite. Lord. Cast it in, my daughter, and thou shalt 
give more than all, and **thy name shall be held in everlasting re- 



membrance." 



**Beautiful hands are those that do 
Work that is earnest, and brave, and true. 
Moment fcp moment the long day through. 



»9 



47 



Twentieth Sunday 

BIRDS OF THE AIR 

**The birds of the air have nests/* — Jesus, 



IT was a charming morning in the month of May. The sua 
smiled upon the world from his hiding place in the far East. 
The grasses and blossoms glistened with dew drops; the air 
was balmy and the birds were fairly spHtting their throats with the 
song that could be heard from the tree tops far and near. They 
were keeping tune to the march of Springtime in the country. Joy 
and beauty were found everywhere and the world was glad, for 
**the time of the singing of birds had come". 

Poets have sung ; artists have sketched ; orators have spoken ; 
but all these are dumb in the presence of Nature clad in Springtide. 

The Bible is in no small sense a text-book on **bird study'*, 
for there are no less than sixty-five varieties of birds mentioned and 
many special references in which birds figure prominently, make it 
valuable as such. 

We may observe, then, some of the habits and character- 
istics of the birds, with lessons suggested: 

The birds of the air are home-builders. They have nests. 
And what a variety. It is believed that there is scarcely any end 
to the variety of bird architecture. But let it be said of the birds 
that all their home building is preceded by a season of genuine 
courtship. In the selecting and finding of mates there is often seen 
rivalry and gallantry scarcely equalled by human kind. 

Birds are examples of industry. If Solomon said **Go to the 
ant, thou sluggard'*, so we say: ** Watch the birds, thou indifierent, 

48 



indolent member of society". They are never late in reaching 
their home in the north, though sometimes early. They build their 
nests in Springtime, not Autumn. 

Birds are examples of cheerfulness. Most birds are singers. 
Each bird sings his own song. 

Shankland, in kind words relates the following legend of the 
Rose, the Bird and the Brook: 

**I will not give away my perfume," said a rosebud, holding 
its pink petals tightly wrapped in their tiny green case. The other 
roses bloomed in splendor, and those who enjoyed their fragrance 
exclaimed at their beauty and sweetness ; but the selfish bud shriv- 
eled and withered away unnoticed. 

**No, no," said a Httle bird; **I do not want to sing.*' But 
when his brothers soared aloft on joyous wings, pouring a flood 
of melody, making weary hearers forget sorrow and bless the 
singers, then the forlorn little bird was lonesome and ashamed. He 
tried to sing, but the power was gone ; he could make only a harsh, 
shrill chirp. 

*'If I give away my wavelets, I shall not have enough my- 
self," said the brook. And it hoarded all its water in a hollow 
place, where it formed a stagnant, sHmy pool. 

A boy who loved a fresh, wide-awake rose, a buoyant, sing- 
ing bird, and a leaping, refreshing brooklet thought on these things, 
and said, **If I would have and would be, I must share all my 
goods with others, for 

*To give is to live; 
To den^ is to die\** 



49 



Twenty-first Sunday 

THE CHRISTIAN RACE 

*'So run that ye may obtain,** — St, PauL 



IN the days of St. Paul, the Apostle, not far from Corinth, the 
far-famed Ithmian games were held every two years. Among 
other athletic contests was the foot race. There is no doubt 
that Paul, in passing by the Olympian Stadium, which was situate 
in full view of the city, had often watched the racers. Being such # 

a pronounced religious worker and teacher, we do not wonder that 
his thoughts led him to reflect upon the race of Life, and more par- 
ticularly, the Christian race. 

The metaphor is indeed striking and true to life. In this race 
all may win or fail. To obtain the prize, should be the great ob- 
jective. Richard Watson Gilder aptly says: 

**//e fails who climbs to power and place 
Up the pathway to disgrace. 
He fails not who makes truth his cause. 
Nor bends to win the crowd* s applause. 
He fails not — he who stages his all 
Upon the right, and dares to fall. 
What though the living bless or blame ? 
For him the long success of fame,** 

According to fable, Atalanta was an athletic, yet charming 
maiden, who challenged all her suitors to run with her the race. 
She oflFered herself as the prize to the conqueror, but attached death 
as a penalty to failure. Many competed with her and lost their 
lives. At last Hippomenes, the judge, overcome by her charms, 
offered himself for the contest. Unseen, he took three golden ap- A| 

50 



pies, as they sprang forth from the goal, and skimmed along the 
sand. Hippomenes felt himself failing, and threw down one of the 
golden apples to detain the virgin. She, amazed, stopped to pick 
it up, while he shot ahead. She soon overtook him, when he threw 
another apple, which she stopped to get. Again she shot by him. 
One apple remained, which he threw to one side; and she, self" 
confidenU or undecided, turned aside for it, and he reached the 
goal and won the prize. 

The golden apples defeated her, as they have many others, 
in the race of life. 

But what is the price of success? First, enlistment; next, train- 
ing; finally, freedom from all hindrances. **Let us lay aside every 
weight" and press forward to win the goal. 



THE TONIC OF SUCCESS 

The exercise of the highest faculties of the mind is not only 
stimulating, but creates the highest character. 

Perhaps there is nothing else which has such a magical effect 
upon the brain, the nervous system, the whole man in fact, as the 
consciousness of achieving that on which his heart is set. There is 
a wonderful uplift in feeling that things which we take hold of will 
move. Acievement acts like a tonic on the whole system, it quickens 
the circulation, stimulates the digestion, and enlarges hope. People 
who have been invalids for years, whom no medicine or physician 
could help, have frequently been entirely restored to health, by 
suddenly hearing some good news, or unexpectedly coming into 
some good fortune. 

This shows that the mind is master, that the body and its 
functions are good servants, and that the thoughts are reflected in 
the physical man. — Selected. 

51 



I 



f 



JUNE 

And what is so rare as a da^ in June? 

Then, if ever, come perfect days; 

Then Heaven tries the earth if it he in tune. 

And over it softly her warm ear lays: 

Whether we look, or whether we listen. 

We hear life murmur, or see it glisten; 

Every clod feels a stir of might. 

An instinct within it that reaches and towers 

And, groping blindly above it for light , 

Climbs to a soul in grass and flowers.*' 

— James Russell Lowell. 



Twenty-second Sunday 



«• 



A DEFENSELESS CAUSE 

Wine is a mocker, strong drink is a brarvler, and n^hosoever 
erreih thereby^ is not wise,** — Solomon. 



HERE 18 a true proposition: **No evil being, power or cause 
can yield good fruit." Apply this, then, to the monstrous 
evil of intemperance that has so long cursed the world. 
What good has it ever done? In what way has it ever been helpful 
to mankind? Who are it's defenders? 

Note the voice of the scientist: **I am a surgeon. My success 
depends upon my brain being clear, my muscles firm, and my 
nerves steady. No one can take alcoholic liquors without blunting 
these physical powers, which I must keep always on edge. As a 
surgeon I must not drink.*' — Dr. Lorenz, eminent European sur- 
geon. 

The business world — life insurance companies, railroads and 
nearly every honorable business man has declared against alcohol, 
even in moderate use. 

Hear the cry of poverty. At a meeting of the Charity organi- 
zation of New York City, Col. John J. McCook said: **The last 
year has been extremely hard on the poor, but it is a great question 
in my mind if it would have been so had it not been that many a 
poor man, many a man who had a family of starving little ones at 
home, went out when he got his small wages at the end of the week 
and spent half of them in drink. Workmen who otherwise would 

54 



be honest, self-respecting men have been driven to theft by this 
awful curse. Our almshouses are crowded with men and women, 
who, were it not for liquor, v/ould to-day be earning an honest liv- 
ing, and at night, instead of sitting down to a meal bought for them 
by the city would be surrounded by happy famihes and enjoying 
the fruits of their own labors.*' 

The Church has faithfully declared that this iniquitous traffic 
"can never be legalized without sin". 

Motherhood wages war against this curse. Says Louis M. 
Waterman: **I stood one day in a great institution for feeble-mind- 
ed children. Before me I saw seven hundred children with blasted 
brains and gnarled, twisted bodies, and more than ninety per cent, 
of it all caused by drink. And when I think that every one of 
them represented a home and a mother, I am not amazed, I cannot 
be astonished, to see a mighty host of womanhood marshalled 
against that dragon that is so wroth with her. It curses father, 
curses husband, curses son and daughter and babe, therefore how 
infinitely it curses the wife and mother." 

**The curse of strong drink brings mourning instead of re- 
joicing; tears instead of laughter; rags instead of clothing; disease 
instead of health; insanity instead of strong mind; crime instead 
of law and order; death instead of life." — R. B. Glenn, 

Who, then, will defend it? What can the end be? For the 
sake of all that is pure and good — let us help stop it. 



55 



Twenty-third Sunday 

THE FELLOWSHIP OF 
BROTHERHOOD 

Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell 

together in unit^,** — The Psalmist 



FOUR brothers there were. The eldest bore the name of a 
British king; the others of a Prophet and two Apostles. 

They were country bom and bred. Their earliest memories 
were of the fireside and the field ; of home pleasures and honest toil. 

Of parental rule they knew only of love's law and rebuke. 
Mother's devotion was a gospel and father's look was a law. 

These brothers grew to manhood and went forth on life's 
great battle plain. Children grew up in their own homes — -but 
these men were brothers still. The ties were never severed, nor 
released. Always once a year, while Father and Mother lingered, 
were they gathered in the old homestead. Repeated for many 
years these now seem almost like heavenly dreams. 

Time brought the gray days when these four sons within 
only six months, bore to their last resting place the loved forms of 
these devoted parents. Together these sons stood by; bowed their 
heads; said a prayer— and felt — THEY have gone — but WE, still 
are brothers. 

In joy, in sorrow; absent or present — they proved the same. 

These brothers had a sister, the youngest and fairest of all. 
The pet, the joy, the life of the household. She, too, grew up, was 

56 



wooed and won and became the mother of four sons. In the prime 
of womanhood, with a new bom babe in her arms, the angel of 
death came at the close of an Autumn day and carried her from 
earth to heaven. Her mortal remains were borne to the slope of a 
beautiful hillside, and beside that grave there stood her faithful 
husband, her motherless children and — the four brothers — while 
the loved form was silently laid to rest beneath the sod, to await 
a glorious resurrection. 

Brothers still, even more closely united because of their com- 
mon loss. 

God grant, that as on earth they have so closely clung to such 
fellowship) — in eternity they may not be separated. 




THE LAW OF FELLOWSHIP 

Fellowship of souls does not consist in the proximity of per- 
sons. There are millions who live in close personal contact — dwell 
under the same roof, board at the same table, and work in the 
same shop — between whose minds there is scarcely a point of con- 
tact, whose souls are as far asunder as the poles; whilst, contrari- 
wise, there are those separated by oceans and continents, ay, by 
the mysterious gulf that divides time from eternity, between whom 
there is a constant intercourse, a delightful fellowship. In truth, we 
have often more communion with the distant than the near. 

— Dr, Thomas, 



57 



Twenty-fourth Sunday 



THE POWER OF HABIT 

**//€ shall be holden with the cords of his sin,** — Solomon, 



LONGSTANDING habits are a powerful factor in life. 
Coleridge, who was a victim of the opium habit, in writing 
to a friend once said: **Conceive of a poor wretch who, for 
many years, has been attempting to beat off pain by the constant 
recurrence to the vice that reproduces it. Conceive a spirit in hell 
employed in tracing out for others the road to that heaven from 
which his crime excludes him/' 

Dr. Paley declares **Man is a bundle of habits". Indeed 
is not every one a slave to the habits which control his life ? 

There are certain laws of habit which are in evidence. First, 
the law of increasing spontaneity. Habit is like a cable, we spin 
a thread every day until at last we cannot break it. The chemist 
becomes insensible to the bad odors in the laboratory; the hunter 
to the sensations incident to exposure; the surgeon to emotional 
sympathy vnth pain. 

Morally the person who forms the habit of lying may become 
hardened to the sin; the dishonest man feels more and more at 
ease; the gossip delights in going about repeating his slanderous 
work. Having formed such habits they go about as though it was 
perfectly natural. Then there is the law of destination. The forma- 
tion of a habit, no matter what it is, tends to become permanent, 
excluding the formation of other habits. And habits form char- 
acter. 



58 



Many men to-day would give hundreds of dollars if they 
had not formed some habits years ago. Now they realize the pow- 
er of habit. 

Habit assumes an enslaving power when the strength of the 
man is unable to resist it. There is an Eastern tale of a magician, 
who discovered by his incantation, that the philosopher's stone lay 
on the bank of a certain river. Unable to discover its exact lo- 
cality, he strolled along the bank with a piece of iron, to which 
he applied every pebble he found, and then threw the pebble 
into the stream to prevent repetition. At last in his diligent search, 
he found the mystic stone, and the iron became gold in his hand; 
but, alas! he had become so accustomed to the "touch and go** 
movement, that he involuntarily hurled the real stone into the river 
after the others, and it was lost to him forever. 

The power of habit had asserted itself in an unguarded mo- 
ment. Now if the power of habit in the realm of evil is so great, 
can not a man as well be held by the cords of righteousness? 
Surely if the habits of life are good their power will exert itself 
equally as strong in the right direction. 

**SoTP a thoughU reap an act; 
Sow an acU reap a habit; 
Sow a habit, reap a character; 
Sow a character t reap a destinx),*^ 



59 



Twenty-fifth Sunday 



MOTHER'S PRAYERS 

For this child I have pra})ed/* — The mother of Samuel 



AN American woman attached to one of the Red Cross units 
in France says: "There is one word our nurses have learned 
to recognize in five languages, and that is *mother*.*' No 
wonder some one else said: **God could not be everywhere, so he 
gave us mothers." 

Who can doubt the truth of Kipling's words: 

*7/ / rvere damned of bod^ and soul. 
Mother o' mine, O mother o' mine, 
I k^oTv rvhose praters rvould mal^e me rvhole. 
Mother o' mine, O mother o* mine.** 

Mother's prayers are an availing power in the world. John 
Ruskin declared he might have been an infidel, but he could not 
forget the scene of bowing at his mother's knee, while she held his 
tiny hands toward heaven and taught him to pray **Our Father, 
who art in heaven". And here is another scene which most child- 
ren can never forget: 

**The fire upon the hearth is low. 
And there is stillness everywhere; 
Lil^e troubled spirits, here and there 
The firelight shadows fluttering go. 

And as the shadows * round me creep, 
A childish treble breaks the gloom 
And softly from a further room 

Comes: Won? / lay me down to sleep,* 

60 



And, somehow, rvith that little prater 
And that sweet treble in my ears. 
My thought goes hack ^o distant years. 

And lingers with a dear one there; 

And as I hear the child* s amen. 

My mother* s faith comes hacl^ to me — 
Crouched at her side I seem to be. 

And mother holds my hands again.** 

— Eugene Field. 

Mother's love makes her prayers a mighty factor in the world. 
At the close of a lecture Rev. Sam P. Jones told the following: 
**An angel was sent dovsoi from heaven one day to bring back the 
most beautiful thing on earth. He hunted long and carefully, saw 
a bed of full-blown American Beauty roses, lovely beyond com- 
pare, and he gathered an armful and started to return to his home 
above. As he soared into the air he saw a baby's smile, and filled 
with rapturous admiration at the sight, returned to take it too. By 
its side he discovered a mother's love, and with all three in his 
arms, he mounted to the place beyond the skies. Just outside the 
pearly gates the spirit paused for a moment, and, lo! the roses 
had withered and were dead; the baby's smile had vanished, but 
strong as ever the mother's love remained; and he cast the others 
aside and took this and laid it at the Master's feet as the most 
lovely and lasting thing on earth." 

And many a prodigal soul has truthfully said: ''I'm coming 
home, for mother's prayers have followed me the whole world 
through." 



61 



Twenty-sixth Sunday 



FRIENDS AND FRIENDSHIP 

**There is a friend thai siickeih closer than a brother,** — Solomon. 



AT the close of a long and useful life, Charles Kingsley, the 
celebrated English author and poet, was asked to tell the 
secret of his success. He replied: **I had a friend.*' This 
but expresses what many a man would say if asked the same 
question. 

What would the life of David have been without Jonathan; 
or Ruth without Naomi; Timothy without Paul; or Peter, James 
and John without Christ; or Alfred Tennyson without Arthur 
Hallan; or Shelly v^thout Keats; or Alcott without Emerson? 

Did you ever lose a friend? Then you know something of 
the value of friendship. The choosing of friends in life is an 
important matter, for upon it our good or evil name depends. 
Socrates once said that he prized friendship above all the gold of 
the Persian treasury. In the life of Tiberias Caesar there is por- 
trayed his ardent friendship with one of his Knights, Aelius Sej- 
amis. The two were bound together as one man. The emperor 
raised his companion to an equality with himself; communicated 
to him every secret of his breast and scarcely allowed him to be 
removed from his presence for a single moment. 

Mankind cannot be happy without friendships. There is a 
touching story of Picciola, a prisoner in solitary confinement, who 
knelt in the presence of, and nursed a little flower which sprang up 

62 



between the flagstones of his cell. In his loneliness he talked to it 
as though it had a soul and could speak back to him. When at 
last the heat of the sun withered it and it died, the strong heart 
within him was broken. 

Who is a friend? What is friendship? There are many 
illuminating definitions. A small boy said: **A friend is one who 
knows all about you, but likes you just the same." A standard 
authority says: **A friend is an intimate and trustworthy com- 
panion." Randolph declared: **A friend is gold; if true he'll 
never leave thee.*' 

**One there is, above all others 

Well deserves the name of friend; 
His is love beyond a brother s, 
Costl}), free, and k^orvs no end. 

Which of all our friends, to save us. 
Could or would have shed his blood? 

But our Jesus died to have us 
Reconciled in Him to Cod, 

Could we bear from one another 
What He dail}) bears from us? 

Yet this glorious Friend and Brother 
Loves us though we treat Him thus, 

O, for grace our hearts to soften! 

Teach us. Lord, at length to love; 
We, alas! forget too often 

What a Friend we have above.** 



63 



JULY 

Loud is the Summer s busy song^ 
The smallest breeze can find a tongue^ 
While insects of each tin]) size 
Crorv teasing n>ith their melodies, 
*Till noon burns with its blistering breath 
Around, and day lies still as death. 
Noon swoons beneath the heat it made. 
And follows een within the shade; 
Until the sun slopes in the west. 
Like weary traveller, glad to rest 
On pillowed clouds of many hues, 

— John Clare. 



Twenty-seventh Sunday 



OUR NATION'S WAR HEROES 

'*And ihey loved not their life even unto death,** — A voice in 

heaven. Revelation 12:11, 



THE text describes the heroes of moral conquest. **The world, 
the flesh and the devil" had striven for supremacy in their 

lives. But they overcame them * 'because of the blood of 
the Lamb, and because of the word of their testimony; and they 
loved not their life even unto death". They were willing to meet 
the supreme test of sacrifice, yea, they met the last enemy, even 
death. 

The annual recurrence of the Nation's birthday recalls our 
nation's heroes in war. We must not forget them nor their deeds of 
valor. Many years ago Bishop MalHHeu said: **The greatest 
present danger of the American people is, that in the enthusiasm of 
victory and the pride of conquest, they forget God and trust in 
their own strength, and so fall into sin." 

This nation has received a rich heritage of influence and 
power from the lives of many heroic men and women. There have 
been heroes of war and peace; of religion — in life and in death. 
Truly the heroic spirit manifests itself in motives as well as in deeds. 
The characteristics of heroism are declared to be valor, courage, 
fortitude and lofty aim. The world has always worshipped its 
heroes. 

America is, in a peculiar sense, the mother of civil and 
religious liberty. It has been the watchword of all it's wars. In 



66 



the one hundred forty years of history the seven wars have all 
been waged for the defense of this great principle. In six conflicts 
we have been victorious, and in the present war against German 
autocracy and atrocity we will not fail. Our army is now in France 
and the greater army is mobilizing. The near future will bring the 
news of the triumph of our heroes on European battlefields. 

It is with pecuhar pride that we make mention of the Grand 
Army of the Republic. At the beginning of the civil war it was a 
mighty army, but the ranks are thin to-day. Spanish War veterans 
in considerable numbers are among us. The cause for which they 
fought was righteous. The people of these countries now enjoy 
prosperity and security. They fought to give them these blessings. 

And now while we write the soldier in khaki and the sailors 
in blue are enlisted in the holiest war of all history. Our nation's 
lot has been cast with the Allied nations to crush the iron-hoofed 
reptile, Germany, who so ruthlessly has cast aside all treaties and 
rules of civilized warfare, to selfishly overpower her enemies and 
rule the world. 

May the ending of this war bring the peace of righteousness. 



67 



Twenty-eighth Sunday 



TO-MORROW 

**And he said to-morrorv,'* — King Pharaoh, 



LIE still, be strong, to-day, 
But, Lord, to-morrow. 
What of to-morrow. Lord? 
Shall there be rest from toil. 
Be truce from sorrow? 

Be living green upon the sward, 
Now but a barren green to me. 

Be joy for sorrow? 
Did I not die for thee? 

Do I not live for thee? 
Leave Me to-morrow." 

The Bible says at least two things about to-morrow. First — 
"Boast not thyself of to-morrow, for thou knowest not what a day 
may bring forth." Again, **Take no thought about the morrow, 
for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself." Hence 
the Christian should not worry about the morrow. 

Still there are some things we may truthfull say of the mor- 
row. It is the home of hope; the child of a former time. Ideals 
for to-morrow are being formed to-day. The secrets of to-morrow 
lie in the life of to-day, for there will be beautiful and fragrant 
flowers to-morrow from the gardens of to-day. 

There will be sunshine to-morrow from the sky of to-day; 
there will be power to-morrow from the storehouse of to-day ; there 

68 



will be music to-morrow from the preparations of to-day; there 
will be victory to-morrow from the strength of to-day. 

The harvests of to-morrow as to morality and immorality 
are in the grain of to-day. 

Yet— 

**Fear not the morrow and its mastery; 
It hath no labor harder than the past. 
It hath no portal, horvsoever fast. 
But opens to the hearer of the ^ep." 

— Ernest Neal Lyon. 



X 



LEAVE TO-MORROW WITH GOD 

Would it not be better to leave to-morrow with God? That 
is what is troubhng men — to-morrow's temptations, to-morrow's 
difficulties, to-morrow's burdens, to-morrow's duties. Martin 
Luther, in his autobiography, says: **I have one preacher that I 
love better than any other on earth; it is my little tame robin, who 
preaches to me daily. I put his crumbs upon my window sill, 
especially at night. He hops onto the window sill when he wants 
his supply, and takes as much as he desires for his need. From 
thence he always hops to a little tree near by, and lifts his voice to 
God and sings his carol of praise and gratitude, tucks his little 
head under his wing, and goes fast to sleep, and leaves to-morrow 
to look after itself. He is the best preacher that I have on earth.** 

— Selected. 



69 



Twenty-ninth Sunday 



THE FORGIVENESS OF SIN 

** Blessed is he ivhose transgression is forgiven, rvhose sin is 

covered.*' — The Psalmist. 



HEREIN is described the peculiar happiness enjoyed by one 
who, in a spiritual experience becomes reconciled to God. 
Such an one is said to be * 'blessedly" or supremely happy. 

By nature man stands in the attitude of a sinner before God. 
He is a transgressor; a failure before the law. There can be no 
happiness without forgiveness. And this condition can only be 
realized through an honest confession. 

The Psalmist also declared: **He that covereth his sin shall 
not prosper; but he that confesseth and forsaketh his sin shall find 
mercy." 

God can and will forgive the penitent soul. **If we confess 
our sins he is faithful and just to forgive.'* 

At the funeral of General Rosecrans in Los Angeles, Cal., 
an interesting scene took place. He had requested that at his 
funeral representatives of the North and of the South should shake 
hands over his bier. At the close of the services, at the grave four 
men in blue and four men in gray stood on either side of the casket 
and clasped hands, each of the blue with one of the gray. Then 
the band played **01d Hundred", and the large assembly united in 
singing "Praise God, from whom all blessings flow." It was a 
wonderful scene; men wept like children, and the entire company 
seemed to be permeated with the blessed spirit of peace. 

70 



It was a sign of the union of two hostile armies; of the for- 
giveness of all past offenses. 

Thank God, all transgressions, when confessed, may be for- 
given in Christ. Reader, have you confessed your sin? Have you 
received forgiveness? 



«( 



A/p Cod is reconciled; 

His pardoning voice I heart- 
He owns me for his child ^ 

I can no longer fear; 
With confidence I now draw nigh. 

And, 'Father, Abba, Father\ cry'' 

— Charles Wesley. 



^ 



GOD'S FORGIVENESS 

Let me go and saw off a branch from one of the trees that 
is now budding in my garden, and all summer long there will be 
an ugly scar where the gash has been made; but by next autumn 
it will be perfectly covered over by the growing; and by the fol- 
lowing autumn it will be hidden out of sight; and in four or five 
years there will be but a slight scar to show where it has been ; and 
in ten or twenty years you would never suspect there had been an 
amputation. Now trees know how to overgrow their injuries and 
hide them; and love does not wait so long as trees do. It knows 
how to throw out all divine and beneficent juices, as it were, and 
hide from sight the wrongs done. And God says he forgives in the 
same way. He will never again make mention, as he declares in 
Ezekiel to his people, of their sins. He will never taunt them with 
them. 

— Beecher, 



71 



Thirtieth Sunday 



SOLEMN DAYS 

**What will pe do in the solemn day?*' — Hosea the Prophet 



THE span of human life brings many days of sacred meaning. 
There are birthdays; christening days; wedding days; 

Church days; hoHdays and many other days of positive sig- 
nificance. But this prophet asks a question which suggests that in 
Hfe's journey there are days of seriousness and solemnity and that 
at such times there is special need of assistance. 

It is true that there are many Solemn Days in the Hfe of 
every one. There comes the Day of Personal Affliction, Temporal 
reverses; physical distresses of body and mind; life has many dis- 
appointments; health sometimes fails. It is a solemn day when 
there is suffering of any kind. 

The Day of Bereavement surely comes, when with Tennyson, 

we say: 

**0 for the touch of a vanished hand; 
And the sound of a voice that is stilU* 

Such a day was it in Egypt, when there arose a great cry **for 
there was not a home where there was not one dead." 

The Day of Death is indeed a solemn day. For **it is ap- 
pointed unto all men once to die." This is the final scene of battle 
for every one. It is the last enemy to be destroyed. Here all 
accounts are balanced; all engagements are cancelled. 

** Death rides on every passing breeze. 
He lurks on every Hower^ 

72 



But of all the solemn days of life's pilgrimage, which can be 
more solemn than the Dap o/ Judgment? St. Paul declares **we 
must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ." On that day 
the **books will be opened"; records given; futures determined. 

And now, dear reader — on all these solemn days — for they 
will surely come. What will ye do? To whom can ye go? In 
such hours I invite you to turn to life's great text book — the Holy 
Bible — where there may be found blessed words of comfort and 
cheer for all who believe. **Come unto me, all ye that are weary 
and heavy laden; take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for my 
yoke is easy and my burden is Hght, and ye shall find rest to your 
souls." **Cast thy burden on the Lord and he will sustain thee." 
**Thanks be unto God, who giveth us the victory, through the Lord 
Jesus Christ." **If ye confess me before men I will confess you 
before the Father and the holy angels." 

**Swift to its close ebbs out lifes little da"^; 
Earth's joys grow dim, its glories pass away; 
Change and decay in all around I see — 
O Thou who changest not, abide with me/' 

— Henry F. Lyte. 



73 



AUGUST 

**The Emperor Octavian^ called the August^ 

I being his favorite, bestowed his name 
Upon me, and I hold it still in trust. 

In memory^ of him and of his fame, 
I am the Virgin, and my vestal flame 

Burns less intensely than the Lions rage; 
Sheaves are my only garlands, and I claim 

The golden Harvests as my heritage" 

— H. W. Longfellow in ''The Poefs Calendar. 



Thirty-first Sunday 



«t 



THE CHURCH OF CHRIST 

Upon this rock ^ ^^H build mp Church.*' — Jesus, 



IGNATIUS declared in his day ** Wherever Jesus Christ is» 
there is the Church.'* In the Gospel and Epistles of the New 
Testament the true Church of Christ is portrayed as a spiritual 
building, of which Christ is the chief cornerstone of the foundation. 

In the realm of His sovereignty Jesus taught that His king- 
dom included all who knew Ham by spiritual acquaintance; and 
excluded all outside this relationship. Membership in the kingdom 
and membership in the Church may mean very different relation- 
ships in His sight. 

The Church is compared to a body of which Christ is the 
head. **For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all 
the members of the body, being many, are one body; so also is 
Christ.** **Now are ye the body of Christ, and severally members 
thereof.'* 

As the head directs the movements of the body, so Christ 
directs the movements of His Church, by the operations of His 
Holy Spirit. 

Christ is the life of the Church. Unless the spirit of Christ 
is reproduced in the lives of the Church membership, there is lack 
of power. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the Church 
produces the Spirit of Christ in the lives of believers. 

The marks of the Church are threefold: 1. Unity, ** One 
Lord, one faith, one baptism." In an orchestra of music there may 

76 



be many instruments, but harmony is the result of united effort. 
Within the Church there may be many denominations, but there 
can be but one Spirit. 2. Holiness, In this spiritual house each 
stone is consecrated or set apart for a specific work. Each stone is 
filled or saturated with the spiritual presence of Christ. 3. Uni- 
versality or Catholicity also distinguishes the Church of Christ 
from all other organizations. The holy catholic Church embraces 
all peoples, races, nations, who possess the Spirit of Christ. 

This spiritual building is composed of living stones (Spiritual- 
ized human beings) built upon the true foundation, which is Christ. 
Peter's noble confession: **Thou art the Christ, the Son of the 
Living God," is the keynote to every true confession of faith. It 
was upon this rock that Jesus said **I will build my Church." 

The objective of this spiritual household of believing children 
is the offering up of acceptable sacrifices of love and service unto 
God by Jesus Christ. 

**The Churches one foundation is Jesus Christ, her Lord; 
She is the new creation fcp rvater and the word; 
From heaven he came and sought her to he his holy bride; 
With his own blood he bought her, and for her life he died,** 

— Samuel J. Stone. 



77 



Thirty-second Sunday 

THE MAN OF SORROWS 

He X»as a man of sorron>s and acquainted Tvith grief,**- — Isaiah, 



THE prophecy of Isaiah furnishes a most accurate outline of 
the sorrowful, suffering life of the world's Redeemer. Why 

the world should have hated him, who was kind to all, is 
indeed strange. Yet, when he exposed their sins they hated and 
opposed him. He was truly a man of sorrows. 

But is not the great burden of the world that of sorrow and 
suffering? This sad fact may be the answer to the oft repeated 
question — -why did Jesus suffer? It has never been disputed that 
the most sacred ; the most sublime moments in all history are found 
in Gethsemane and Calvary. This was the culmination of the 
earthly life of the Man of Sorrows. 

The chief sorrow of Christ was over the appalling fact of a 
world lost in sin. It was when he sat on the brow of Olivet looking 
down upon the Holy City that he said: **0 Jerusalem, Jerusalem, 
that killeth the prophets, and stoneth them that are sent uno her! 
How often would I have gathered thy children together, even as 
a hen gathereth her chickens under her vsings, and ye would not." 

He sorrov/ed over the unbelief of his own. Nazareth rejected 
Him; Judas betrayed Him; Thomas doubted; Peter denied Him 
and with James and John slept in Gethsemane. They all forsook 
Him and fled. 

What then is the solemn meaning of His sorrows? Do they 
not measure the extent of His Divine love? Do they not measure 
the true value of man ? 



78 



It is said that when the story of West India slavery was told 
to the Moravians, and that it was impossible to reach the slave 
population because they were so separated from the ruling classes, 
two missionaries offered themselves and said: **We will go and be 
slaves on the plantations, and work and toil under the lash and get 
beside the poor slaves and instruct them." So they left their homes 
and went to these islands as slaves. And the slaves heard them 
because they had humbled themselves to their condition. This was 
indeed a noble example of sacrifice. Yet Christ's example was 
more wonderful. He came from heaven to earth to get by our 
side; that we might feel the throbbings of His tender love and be 
drawn so close as to hear Him whisper: **God is Love." 




THE SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST 

We may paint the outward appearance of his sufferings, but 
not the inward bitterness or invisible causes of them. Men can 
paint the cursed tree, but not the curse of the law that made it so. 
Men can paint Christ bearing the cross to Calvary, but not Christ 
bearing the sins of many. We may describe the nails piercing his 
sacred flesh, but who can describe eternal justice piercing both 
flesh and spirit? We may describe the soldier's spear, but not the 
arrows of the Almighty; the cup of vinegar which he but tasted, 
but not the cup of wrath, which he drank out to the lowest dregs ; 
the derision of the Jews, but not the desertion of the Almighty for- 
saking his son, that he might never forsake us who were his enemies. 

— J. Maclaurin, 



79 



Thirty-third Sunday 



RIGHT THINKING 

For as he thinketh mthin himself, so is he.*' — Solomon. 



REAL life is thought life, for thoughts are the beginning of 
ideas, and conduct is the expression of thought. 

A man's thoughts affect his whole life. Right thinking 
produces right feeling — wrong thinking produces wrong feeling. 
Mental conditions may be conducive of sickness or health, as the 
case may be. The mind should be fed with wholesome thoughts. 
They feed the soul. Fill the mind with the thought of Christ, and 
the life will be an expression of Christ-likeness. **Keep thy heart 
with all dihgence; for out of it are the issues of life." 

The Psalmist's explanation of the source of a wicked man's 
wickedness was: **A11 his thoughts are. There is no God". But is 
a man responsible for his thoughts? Certainly. The will has the 
power to choose the good and put away the evil. By obedience 
of the right the will is strengthened for righteousness. But diso- 
bedience may weaken the power of the will. The swallows may 
fly over our heads, but we need not allow them to build nests in 
our hair. 

Our thoughts should be chosen. As we choose companions, 
so we should choose our thoughts. One evil thought may prove 
as fatal to character building as an imperfect brick in the con- 
struction of a wall, or a rotten timber in the building of a house. 

How then shall we govern our thinking, which is so vitally 
important to our living? Another truly says: **The glass gives 

80 



shape to the Hquid it holds, but not quaHty. The same vessel may 
hold putrid water or nectar. Outward circumstances shape our 
lives. Conventional culture may give grace of appearance; but the 
ingredients of character are the inner thoughts.*' 

**Fmall^, brethren, rvhatsoever things are true, whatsoever 
things are honorable, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things 
are pure, whatsoever things are lovel};, whatsoever things are of 
good report; if there be ani? virtue, and if there be an]) praise, 
think on these things.'* — St. Paul. 




MEMORIES 

Oft I remember those whom I have known 
In other days, to whom my heart was led 
As by a magnet, and who are not dead. 
But absent, and their memories overgrown 

With other thoughts and troubles of my own. 
As graves with grasses are, and at their head 
The stone with moss and lichens so o'erspread. 
Nothing is legible but the name alone. 

And is it so with them? After long years. 
Do they remember me in the same way. 
And is the memory pleasant as to me? 

I fear to ask; yet wherefore are my fears? 
Pleasures like flowers, may wither and decay. 
And yet the root perennial may be. 

— H. W, Longfellow. 



81 



Thirty-fourth Sunday 



«c 



NOT OF THE WORLD 

The}) are not of the rvorld, even as I am not of the rvorld**—Je$m 



THAT is a most important question which comes to every 
disciple of Christ: **What is my relation to the v/orld and 

its worldliness?" These words from the prayer of Jesus 
help us to answer the question ; but how many err in this matter. 

In many instances the Christian holds himself too much 
apart from the world. Jesus declared He was not of this world, 
yet his spirit and conduct toward the world was not one of cold- 
ness, but rather of love and sympathy. How often was he found 
eating in the houses of the poor, the despised and the outcast. 
While he never approved of their sins, in any instance, he was ever 
ready to do any kindness that might lead to the truth. Whether 
it was at Jacob's well ; or in the house of a certain Pharisee ; or 
in the home of Zacchaeus, we find Him going among the people 
that He might do them good. He came **to seek and to save that, 
which was lost", and his followers need to remember that to hold 
themselves too much apart from those who sin, is to misrepresent 
the true attitude of the Christian toward the world. 

Another serious blunder is that Christians sometimes enter too 
deeply into forms of worldliness, and hence become victims of 
their own folly. When our Lord sent out the disciples he said: 
"Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye 
therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves." As they were 

82 



to go among wolves and yet preserve their identity as sheep, so 
the disciples of Christ are to be **in the world, but not of it*\ 

In a more definite sense we may say that as Christ had a 
birth originating, not of this world, but of the Spirit, so every be* 
liever "must be born again*', of the Spirit. 

As Christ has **all power on earth and in heaven", so St. 
Paul says of the behever: **God gave us not a spirit of fearfulness; 
but of power and love and discipline." 

The Gospel also speaks of the joy of Christ and the joy of 
the believer. It is not a joy of worldliness or the world. Jesus 
said: **These things have I spoken unto you that my joy may be 
in you, and that your joy may be full." Such is the joy of adop- 
tion, which helps the believer to sing: 

**0 happ^ da^, happ^ da^. 
When Jesus washed my sins awa}).** 

There are also joys of service and fellowship and peace, for 
the Saviour says: "My peace I give unto you; not as the world 
giveth give I unto you." 

Finally, like Christ, the Christian has a home not of this 
world. On earth He was an exile, for He had **not where to lay 
His head". His home was the Father's house. He declared **In 
my Father's house are many mansions. I go to prepare a place 
for you." 

"Oft, think of the home over there. 
By the side of the river of light. 
Where the saints all immortal and fair. 
Are robed in their garments of white.** 



83 



SEPTEMBER 

IVhat vision rvili thou give me, autumn mom^ 
To make thy pensive sweetness more complete? 

What tale, neer to be told of folk unborn? 
What images of gray-clad damsels sweet 

Shall cross thy sward with dainty, noiseless feet? 
What nameless, shamefast longings made a/ive, 

Soft-^yed September, will thy sad heart give? 

— William Morris. 



Thirty-fifth Sunday 



LONELY SOULS 

No man careth for m}^ soul.** — David, 



THIS scripture verse is the outburst of a soul in trouble ; a soul 
in danger; a soul hungering for companionship; a soul long- 
ing for the satisfying knowledge of sympathetic friendship. 
Our Saviour knew^ such an hour; w^hen betrayed by the kiss of a 
disciple he was delivered into the hands of sinners — all the disciples 
forsook him and fled. 

The world has not changed. Mankind is prone to regard 
only self-interest; personal pleasure and gain, while many souls 
who crave only a little sympathy, are left to grope in the darkness 
of loneliness. 

But David's trouble; his eager search for sympathy in his 
distress drove him to his God, who is all sympathy. Here was the 
true source of comradeship. 

The question is often asked: **Does Jesus care?'* We answer 
in the words of St. Peter: "Humble yourselves therefore under the 
mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time; casting 
all your care upon him, for He careth for you." 

**Lonel^? Ah, no, not lonely. 
While Jesus standeth near! 
He comes within the tent door, 
I feel His presence here. 

86 



** Friendless? O, no, not friendless. 
While Jesus is my Friend; 
I change, hut He remaineth 
Sure, loving to the end. 

** Weary? Ah, yes, so weary; 
But leaning on His breast 
My soul hath siveet assurance 
Of His eternal rest. 

**Helpless? Yes, n>eaf^ and helpless; 
But I am leaning hard 
Upon the arm of Jesus, 
And He is l^eeping guard. 

**Happy? Ah, yes, so happy. 
With joy no tongue can tetl; 
A precious, sure possession 
From Christ, the living well! 

** Waiting? Ah, yes, Vm Waiting! 
Christ bids me watch and Wait; 
And oft Vm led to wonder 

What maizes my Lord so late!** 

The above expressive lines were w^ritten in a Manila camp 
by young Arthur Hardy, a volunteer from Haverhill, Mass., while 
lying ill with malignant fever. He was sent home with other sick 
and wounded soldiers, and died at his father's house soon after 
arriving there. He was about nineteen years of age. Just before 
closing his eyes upon earthly scenes he repeated these verses, pen- 
ciled by a fevered hand in a far-off Manila camp. — Epworth 
Herald. 



87 



Thirty-sixth Sunday 



»« 



AUTUMN'S ART GALLERY 

The mountains and the hills shall break forth before ^ou into sing- 
ing; and all the trees shall clap their hands,** — Isaiah. 



A SCOTCH MAN was walking along the side of a mountain 
in Skye, when he came to a hut in which lived an old man 
he had known a great many years. He saw the old man 
with his head bowed, and his bonnet in his hand. He came up 
and said to him after a bit: **I did not speak to you, Sandy, be- 
cause I thought you might be at your prayers." **Well, not ex- 
actly that," said the old man, *'but I will tell you what I vras 
doing. Every morning for forty years I have taken off my bonnet 
here to the beauty of the world." 

And who, when observing the many beautiful scenes pictured 
in Autumn's art gallery, has not felt like doing the same. God is 
the artist; all out-of-doors is the art gallery, and there are many 
scenes of harvest and marvelous loveliness in their colorings of 
beauty. 

When on a golden day in Autumn, one rides through the 
open country are we not reminded of Goethe's lines ''Nature is 
the garment of God". The colorings of nature are true; the shad- 
ings are always in harmony. 

The messages of Autumn tide are many. If poetry is **thc 
language of nature speaking to the heart", then here we find that 
message. For without nature's poetry the world becomes a count- 
ing room. One has truly said: "The course of nature is the art 



88 



of God.** It seems to say "I change my raiment frequently and 
oFtimes suddenly, but being perfect in all. no change can detract 
from or enhance my beauty/* 

There is a message of joyousness. The music of the moun- 
tains in Autumn may seem like a dirge to some — yet if the heart 
is rightly tuned **the hills break forth with singing*'. Nature in- 
variably smiles after the cloud and storm. **The trees of the field 
clap their hands.*' 

Then, there is the religious message. Indeed, J. Stuart Mill, 
though rejecting every argument for the existence of God, declared 
that the argument from design in the universe is irresistible, and 
that nature does testify to its Maker. 

**Inio the woods my Master went. 
Clean forespent, clean forespent; 
Into the woods mp Master came 
Forespent with love and shame. 
But the olives they Were not blind to him^ 
And the little gray leaves were kind to him. 
The thorn tree had a mind to him 
When into the woods he came.** 



89 



Thirty-seventh Sunday 



HAPPY HOMES 

**Then David returned to bless his household,** — 2 Samuel 6:20, 



HERE are several definitions of a home: **The golden settikig, 
in which the brightest jewel is mother." **A world of strife 
shut out, a world of love shut in.'* **Home is the blossom 
of which heaven is the fruit.'* **The only spot on earth where the 
faults and failings of humanity are hidden under the mantle of 
charity." 

But what constitutes the happy home? Certainly not the 
house in which one lives, for the poet makes us sing: 

**JSe it ever so humble. 
There is no place lil^e home,** 

The happy home possesses a certain atmosphere of congenial- 
ity; co-operation and hospitableness. It is the lack of these that 
breeds that fatal disease "homesickness". 

Dean Farrar writes on the theme thus: **The sweetest and 
happiest homes — homes to which men in weary life look back with 
yearning too deep for tears ; homes whose recollections linger round 
our manhood like hght and the sunshine and the sweet air, into 
which no base things can intrude — are homes where brethren dwell 
together in unity; where* because all love God, all love their 
brothers also ; where, because all are very dear to all, each is dear- 
er to each than to himself.'* 



90 



The happy home is where God's designs are most nearly 
realized. Robert Burns, the loved bard of Scotland, in his Cotter's 
Saturday Night", describes the family worship of the cottagers: 

**From scenes like these old Scotia s grandeur springs. 

That makes her loved at home, revered abroad: 
Princes and lords are but the breath of kmgs, 

*An honest mans the noblest rvork of Cod'; 

And certes, in fair virtue's heavenl]) road. 
The cottage leaves the palace far behind; 

What is the lording' s pomp! a cumbrous load. 
Disguising oft the Tvretch of human ki^d. 
Studied in arts of hell, in rvickedness refined!" 

Modern home makers and builders may receive inspiration 
from the noble example of King David, who found time in the 
midst of a busy life to bless his household. 




MOTHER AND HOME 

It is true to nature, although it be expressed in a figurative 
form, that a mother is both the morning and the evening star of 
life. The Hght of her eye is always the first to rise, and often the 
last to set upon man's day of trial. She wields a power more de- 
cisive far than syllogisms in argument, or courts of last appeal in 
authority. Nay, in cases not a few, where there has been no fear 
of God before the eyes of the young — where His love has been 
unfelt and His law outraged, a mother's affection or her tremulous 
tenderness has held transgressors by the heart-strings, and been the 
means of leading them back to virtue and to God. 

W. K. TWEEDIE, D. D. 



91 



Thirty-eighth Sunday 



THE HOLY COMMUNION 

**This do in remembrance of me,** — Jesus. 







LOVE divine, what hast thou done ! 

The incarnate God hath died for me ! 
The Father's co-eternal Son 
Bore all my sins upon the tree. 
The Son of God for me hath died : 
My Lord, My Love, is crucified.** 

— Charles Wesley. 

The words **this do in remembrance of me", were used by 
our Lord at the institution of the Sacrament of the Holy Com- 
munion. 

The carelessness and indifference which are apparent among 
so many Christians toward this sacrament, should be cause for 
great sorrow and anxiety ; for among the solemn vows taken at the 
altar of the Church, is that wherein as members of his body, all 
promise to faithfully observe this sacrament. 

It is a plain command from the lips of our Saviour, To 
neglect this duty is a plain violation, and not for any trivial excuse 
should the service be omitted. 

The perpetuation of this solemn service depends upon his 
disciples in all ages; those who give their hearts to Christ and are 
his children through faith; especially those who have identified 
themselves with his Church. 



92 



In what spirit should the sacrament be taken? In the spirit 
of prayerful examination, as to Hfe and motive in our relations to 
God and mankind. In sincerity. "The sacrifices of God are a 
broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not 
despise.'* We should approach the service with but one purpose: to 
be all that God wants us to be. His true and faithful children. 
Here is no place for outward show, but humble worship. 

We should receive the sacrament in the spirit of true conse- 
cration, forgetting the past and firmly resolving to live a better life. 
We should receive the elements of bread and wine in remembrance 
of his sacrifice for our sins. It must be an act of faith. We do not 
look upon the bread and wine as being the actual body and blood 
— but symbols of the body and blood of Christ. 

There may be danger of forgetting the scene of the cross. 
What a scene do we behold in America on Memorial Day? Ev- 
erywhere people are carrying flowers to place upon the graves of 
their loved dead. They thus remember them. Can we do less for 
Him who has saved us by his death? 

Let us draw near with thankful hearts. One of the most 
wonderful statements of the Gospel story is that which tells of 
Christ, who in the presence of his betrayer "took the cup and when 
he had given thanks, said *this is my blood which is shed for you. 
This do in remembrance of me'." 



93 



Thirty-ninth Sunday 



THE PROBLEM OF SUFFERING 

^ For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy^ 
to be compared rviih the glory n?hich shall he revealed to 
US-TV ard,'' — St, Paul 



THE trials of life are the common portion of mankind. Job 
declares that **Man, that is born of a woman, is of few days, 
and full of trouble." The physical battle is a losing one. 
The sufferings of this world come in many forms. No life is ex- 
empt. Toil, trial, tears, disappointments, discouragements. Some- 
times despair, sickness, pain, suffering, loneliness, and death — these 
are the hard propositions against which mortal man must contend. 

Who has not asked: What is the meaning of all this? Or 
with Charles McKay : 

**Tell me, secret soul, O tell me Hope and Faith, 
Is there no resting place from sorron), sin and death? 
Is there no happy spot rvhere mortals may he blessed; 
Where grief may find a balm, and rveariness a rest? 
Faith, Hope and Love, best boons to mortals given. 
Waved their bright rvings and whispered *Yes — in heaven .** 

But St. Paul declares the sufferings of this present time are 
not to be "compared with the glory which shall be revealed to us- 
ward." Are the words of Waller true when he says: **For all we 
know of what the blessed do above is, that they sing and that they 
love."? 

John Bunyan was asked a question about heaven that he 
could not answer: he therefore advised the inquirer to live a holy 



Q4 



life and go and sec. Of the future glory we may not know all, for 
**here we know in part". Milton writes: **What if earth be but 
the shadow of heaven, and things therein each to other like, more 
than below is thought?*' 

It was Isaiah, the prophet, who wrote: **Men have not heard, 
nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen a God beside 
thee, who worketh for him that waiteth for him.'* In the future 
glory there will be freedom from earthly toils. An aged Christian 
when asked how he did, repHed: **I am going home as fast as I 
can, as every honest man ought to do when his day's work is done ; 
and I bless God I have a good home to go to." Isaiah further de- 
clares: **And everlasting joy shall be upon their heads: they shall 
obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away." 

**There is a land of pure delighU where saints immortal reign. 
Infinite day excludes the night, and pleasures banish pain.** 

In brilHant Hnes Alfred Kunner says: ** Write it in letters of 
gold. Write it upon the face of the sun and spell it with stars 
across the darkest night of thy sorrows: **Neither shall there be 
mourning, nor crying, nor pain, any more: the first things are passed 
away." 



95 



OCTOBER 

He comes in pomp, October. To him all times belong; 
The frost is on his sandals, but the flush is on his cheeks, 
September sheaves are in his arms, June voices when he speaks; 
The elms lift bravel}), like a torch Tviihin a Grecian hand: 
See where the^ light the monarch on through the splendid land. 
The sun puts on a human look behind the haz^ fold. 
The mid-})ear moon of silver is struck anew in gold. 
In honor of the ver^ day that Moses saw of old. 
For in the burning bush that blazed as quenchless as a sword 
The old lieutenant first beheld October and the Lord. 

— Benjamin Franklin Taylor. 



Fortieth Sunday 



THE HOLY SABBATH 

Remember the Sabbath day to keep it hol}^.'* 
— Fourth Commandment 



WHO will deny that at all times and under all circumstances 
we may safely look to Jesus as authority on all subjects vi- 
tal to the Christian's life. What He taught may wisely be 
applied to all times. 

The proper observemce of the Sabbath is vital to the best in- 
terests of mankind. In solving the problem, two questions seem to 
be important, viz: Frst, shall the commands of God be recognized 
as supreme authority, or. Second, shall the commercial aims of the 
corporation and the selfish life of the pleasure seeker be granted? 

One answer was given by the famous singer, Jenny Lind. At 
Stockholm, once, she was requested to sing on the Sabbath at the 
king's palace on the occasion of some great festival. She refused, 
and the king called personally upon her, in itself a high honor, and, 
as her sovereign, commanded her attendance. Her reply was, 
**There is a higher King, sire, to whom I owe my first allegiance," 
and she refused to be present. 

But what did the Saviour say about the Sabbath? To the 
Pharisees, He said: **The Sabbath was made for man, and not 
man for the Sabbath.'* "Wherefore it is lawful to do good on the 
Sabbath day." What He did on this holy day may help us to a 
proper understanding of our duty. Hie honored the day, by regu- 

98 



larly attending the house of worship ; He preached and taught the 
word; He performed not less than eight miracles; He dined with 
a chief Pharisee while on a journey. 

Therefore all Christians should always have good reasons for 
their activities or omissions on this day. 

By the words and example of our Saviour we learn that there 
are certain reasonable laws which should govern the observance of 
the Sabbath. The law of Christian liberty; of moral necessity; of 
loyalty to the Divine command; the law of worship which recog- 
nizes the real needs of the soul, and the law of mercy. 

Dr. David J. Burrell says: **The responsibihty for the present 
decay of Sabbath observance must be laid in largest measure, on 
those who profess to be followers of Christ. There are thirty mil- 
lions of religious people in our country who control the preponder- 
ance of its wealth and culture and influence; and they can have 
things their own way." 

*'A Sabbath n>ell spent 

Brings a rveel^ of content 
And strength for the toils of the morron>; 

But a Sabbath profaned^ 

Whatsoever be gained. 
Is a certain forerunner of sorrow,'* 

— Sir Matthew Hale. 



99 



Forty-first Sunday 



<< 



THE MESSAGE OF THE STARS 

When I consider the heavens, the Tvor^ of th}) fingers; the moon 
and stars which thou hast ordained.*' — Psalmist, 



IN the minds of the ancients the stars occupied an important 
place. They were supposed to exercise some influence over 
human hfe and the course of nature. 

In Dr. Van Dyke's **Story of the Other Wise Man," he 
makes Tyranus say: "The stars are the thoughts of the eternal. 
They are numberless." And in the story of Christ's birth the star 
of Bethlehem has a prominent place. To Abraham the promise 
was given: **I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heavens." 
The message of the stars comes down through all the ages. 

The Star of Bethlehem shines out in history with a light and 
mystery which adds to its lustre. What it was and where it came 
from has led to many opinions. Some believe it was a special star; 
some a new planet ; a comet. Others advocate the theory of a con- 
junction of planets. 

The wise men of Sacred story rejoiced when the star ap- 
peared. It was their guiding star and led them to Bethlehem where 
they found the babe Christ. 

The Bethlehem star truly sheds the Hght of truth on the path- 
way of the ages and leads all men to the rewards that come to 
those who believe. 

An unknown author writes: **This star shines through clouds 
of war and tumult and human unrest ; for it is He who shall shake 



100 



all nations, turning and overturning until the sceptre is acknowl- 
edged to be His in all the kingdoms of the world. It shines in the 
dark places of the earth, bringing promise of the morning. It shines 
in homes of sorrow, a blessed ray among the gloom. Happy, in- 
deed, are we if upon our own spiritual sky His star has risen and 
become our light, our guide, our harbinger of eternal day." 



«« 



In the light of that star lie the ages impearled. 
And that song from afar has srvept over the world. 
Ever^ heart is aflame^ while the beautiful sing 
In the homes of the nations, that Jesus is King.** 

— J. G. Holland. 

n 

THE EVENING STAR 

**Many glories mingle 

In the azure air. 
But to me most charming 

Shines the evening star. 
For in its pure whiteness 

'Tis a type of Him 
In whose holy brightness 

Sun and stars are dim. 

Thou art high and holy. 

Angels worship Thee: 
Thou art meek and lowly. 

For Thou lovest me. 
Thou with light enlivening. 

Shining from afar. 
Art at once my evening 

And my morning star." 

— Selected. 



lot 



Forty-second Sunday 



<« 



THE JOYS OF WORSHIP 

They that worship Him must worship in spirit and truth,*^ — Jesus. 



THERE are those in the world who speak with contempt con- 
cerning the joys of Christian worship, or the reahty of re- 
ligion. 

By the pleasures of sense, man resembles the beasts which 
perish; by the joys of devotion he is assimilated to the immortal 
angels of light. A father once wrote to his son concerning this 
theme and said: "Every branch of devotion is laden with delicious 
fruit." 

To worship God acceptably one must know him. Formality 
alone is not worship. Jesus taught that the joys of true spiritual 
worship surpass all others in purity, intensity and permanence. A 
noted writer once said: **The spirit of worship is one of the greatest 
blessings and the lack of it one of the greatest misfortunes, that a 
man can experience." How true, then, are the words of Richard 
Watson: *'I know of no pleasures so rich, none so pure, none so 
hallowing in their influences and constant in their supply as those 
which result from the true and spiritual worship of God." 

Worship is the communion of our spiritual natures with God. 
It implies the engagement of all the powers toward God. Religion 
becomes a blessed reality when the spirit of worship lives in the 
soul. Without it there is an aching void. It leads the soul to prayer 
and to the sanctuary. 

102 



I 



The joys of this present world are passing, uncertain, shallow, 
vain, and of brief duration. But the joys of the worshipper of God 
are enduring even throughout all eternity. 

**Lord, what a change rvithin us one short hour 
Spent in th\^ presence will prevail to make! 
What heav]) burdens from our bosoms taf^e^ 
What parched grounds revive as with a shower! 
We I^neeU cmd all around us seems to lower; 
We rise, and all, the distant and the near. 
Stands forth a sunny^ outline brave and clear. 
We k^eel, how Weak! We rise, how full of power! 
Wh)), wherefore should we do ourselves this wrong. 
Or others, that we are not always strong; 
That we are ever overborne with care; 
That we should ever weak or heartless be. 
Anxious or troubled, when with us is prayer. 
And joy and strength and courage are with thee.** 

— Richard Chenevix Trench, D. D. 

A proper admonition, then, is '*Let us consider one another 
to provoke unto love and good works ; not forsaking our assembhng 
together, as the custom of some is, but exhorting one another; and 
so much the more, as ye see the day drawing nigh." 



103 



Forty-third Sunday 



THE GIFT OF THE SPIRIT 

But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit to profit 

n?ithaU' — SL Paul 



THE work of the Divine Spirit is observed in creation, in the 
incarnation and in the gift of prophecy, **For no prophecy 
ever came by the w^ill of man: but men spake from God, 
being moved by the Spirit of God/* 

The operations of the Holy Spirit w^ere further seen in the 
inauguration of the Church, when the apostles **were all filled with 
the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit 
gave them utterance." 

Jesus declared that the proof of the Spirit's coming would be 
**conviction of the world in respect of sin; of righteousness and of 
judgment'*. The Scriptures clearly teach, then, that as Christ is 
God by eternal filiation with God the Father ; so the Holy Spirit is 
God by an eternal procession. Jesus further said: **But when the 
Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, 
even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall 
bear witness of me." 

In His relation to the Christian hfe, the Holy Spirit is Teach- 
er, Remembrancer, Guide, Glorifier of Christ, Promise of the 
Father, other Comforter. 

**0 Spirit of the living Cod^ 

In all ih^ plentitude of grace. 

Where er the foot of man hath trod. 

Descend on our apostate race. 



104 



Give tongues of fire and hearts of /ove. 

To preach the reconciling word; 
Give power and unction from above. 

Wherever the joyful sound is heard. 

Be darkness, at thy coming, light; 

Confusion — order, in thy path; 
Souls without strength, inspire with might; 

Bid mercy triumph over wrath. 

Baptize the nations; far and nigh 
The triumphs of the cross record; 

The name of Jesus glorify. 

Till every kindred call him Lord,** 

— James Montgomery. 

Let us then, * 'Grieve not, resist not, quench not, the Holy 
spirit of God.'* 




THE HOLY SPIRIT AS A GUIDE 

There are many truths leading out before the mind of the 
disciple; the Spirit, like a guide, shows which one to take. The 
disciple has to do the walking in the way. The Spirit does not 
drive, but, rather, walks ahead. If we would know the right way, 
we can look to see if the Spirit of God is walking in it. Is it such 
a truth as would seem to be a fitting pathway for the spirit of 
God? This question will of itself settle some difficulties. The 
bringing of the thought of the Spirit of God into our plans will 
keep us from slipping off into some evils, for some courses need 
only to be connected with the thought of God to reveal their inner 
falsity. 

— Bishop F, J. McConnell, 

105 



NOVEMBER 

The melloiv year is hasting to a close; 
The little birds have almost said their last. 
Their small notes twitter in the dreary blast — 
That shrill-piped harbinger of early snows; — 
The patient beauty of the scentless rose. 
Oft with the Morns hoar crystal quaintly glassed. 
Hangs, a pale mourner for the summer past. 
And makes a little summer where it grows: — 
In the chill sunbeam of the faint brief day 
The dusky ^<^ters shudder as they shine; 
The russet leaves obstruct the straggling way 
Of oozy brooks, which no deep banks define. 
And the gaunt woods, in ragged, scant array. 
Wrap their old limbs with somber ivy-twine. 

— Hartley Coleridge. 



Forty-fourth Sunday 



WHAT IS MAN? 

**And God created man in his own image,** — Moses, 



HUMAN existence, when viewed from the standpoint of 
human wisdom alone, is an interrogation. It is perfectly 
natural that men should ask of their existence: When? 
Who? What? The chief desire and aim of all investigation, in 
all ages, has been toward this end. 

If divine revelation, and the light which it throws upon the 
subject, is disregarded the question has not yet been satisfactorily 
answered. To the psalmist's question, **What is man, that thou art 
mindful of him?" I would answer: Man is a material formation, 
by Divine creation, having a living soul which is immortal. 

The declaration of man's creation found in Holy Writ is in 
perfect harmony with the material surroundings which man has 
had during all his history. Abundant provision for his material 
needs is found nearly everywhere. But in the story of man's cre- 
ation his material formation did not become a living substance 
until God breathed in him, whereupon he became a living soul. 
In his moral character man was created in the image of God, 
which v/as that of righteousness and true holiness. Man was thus 
created a being of responsibility, endowed with free will; subject 
to the law of obedience. 

Before his temptation and fall, man lived in a state of com- 
plete m.oral healthfulness ; the law of duty was plainly opened to 
him; there was in his environment ample sources of satisfaction. 



108 



and most weighty reasons for obedience. In his fall we witness 
a yielding to the will of Satan — man's enemy — ^with the result of 
death. Which implied, then and now, the separation of man from 
the former favorable surroundings to a Hfe of labor and suffering 
here, and a condition of eternal misery hereafter — except for the 
gracious plan of Salvation proposed by the Creator. 

Man, then, is a highly responsible being, and in his hand is 
the power by which he may become eternally happy or eternally 
miserable. God's sovereignty; His mercy and the provision which 
He has made for man's present and future happiness, bring man 
face to face with his supreme duty, viz: "Fear God and keep his 
commandments. 

Let us love, not hate; obey, not rebel; forgive, not resent; 
be patient, not fretful ; hopeful, not given to despair ; prayerful, not 
forgetful of God. 



109 



Forty-fifth Sunday 



THE CROSS OF CHRIST 

Far he it from me to glor^, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus 
Christy through xphich the world has been crucified unto 
me, and I unto the world,'* — St. Paul 



THE royal banner is unfurled; the Cross is reared on high. 
On which the Saviour of the world, is stretched in agony. 
See! through his holy hands and feet the cruel nails they 
drive ; 
Our ransom thus is made complete, our souls are saved alive. 
Hail, holy cross ! from thee we learn the only way to heaven ; 
And O, to thee may sinners turn, and look and be forgiven. 
Jehovah, we thy name adore, in Thee we will rejoice. 
And sing 'till time shall be no more the triumphs of the cross." 

- — John Chandler. 

Those followers of Christ who think they will reach heaven 
without bearing crosses are endeavoring to rob the cause of its most 
brilliant lustre. No ray of light that has ever shone in this dark 
world can surpass that which shines from the Cross of Christ. 
Upon the cruel, blood-stained Cross of Christ is reflected the 
beauty of holiness and the perfection of the divine sacrifice. Well 
might the poet sing: 

**/n the cross of Christ I glory, torvering oer the wrecks of time. 
All the light of sacred story gathers round its head sublime.** 

What, then, is the Cross of Christ to the Christian? It is 
the place of refuge. In the western country, in the autumn, some- 

110 



times the prairie grass catches fire. When the wind is strong, the 
flames may be seen rolHng along twenty feet high, destroying life 
and property in their onward rush. When the frontiersmen see 
what is coming they know they cannot run fast enough to escape it. 
Then they burn the grass around them and take refuge in the 
burnt district. Here they are safe. So there is one spot on earth 
sv/ept over by the fires of Calvary where the Son of God took 
over into his own bosom the terrors of sin and death, and here the 
beheving soul is safe forever. 

Let the author of Ben Hur further tell us of the scene on 
Calvary: "The cross is to be planted. Strong arms Hft it and 
carry the suffering Saviour to the spot. The third hour is at hand. 
The face bruised and bleeding, black with blood and dust as it 
was, suddenly lightens up with a glow. The eyes open wide, and 
fixed upon some one visible to him in the heavens, he shouted ! and 
there were content and relief, even triumph in the shout he gave. 
*It is finished!' Softly the light in his eyes goes out and the 
thorned head sinks upon the laboring breast. But the dying soul, 
seemingly recollecting itself, those near him hear the last words 
spoken, in a whisper: 'Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit.' 
A tremor shakes the tortured body — a scream of the fiercest an- 
guish — the mission of the earthy life is over. The heart, with all 
its love, is broken." 



Ill 



Forty-sixth Sunday 



BEACON LIGHTS IN THE WORLD 



«( 



Ye are the light of the 'World.** — Jesus. 



ALL light, whether physical, moral or spiritual, emanates 
from God. It was the Creator who said: "Let there be 
light: and there was light." The Scriptures assert that all 
moral Hght proceeds from God. Paul to the Corinthians writes: 
**It is God that said. Light shall shine out of darkness, who shined 
in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of 
God in the face of Jesus Christ." 

The Apostle John, who says **God is love", also says: **God 
is light, and in him is no darkness at all." Paul also declares that 
God dwelleth '*in light unapproachable; whom no man hath seen, 
nor can see". James speaks of God as **the Father of lights, with 
whom can be no variation, neither shadow that is cast by turning'*. 

All followers of Christ are declared to be lights in the world. 
Of John the Baptist it was said: **He was the lamp that burneth 
and shineth." Paul was stricken down in the roadway by a light 
from heaven, and later at Antioch, declared that by the com- 
mandment of God, he was sent to be a light to the Gentiles. 

Christians, then, in all ages, are to be lights, because of the 
shining of the Divine light in their hearts, through repentance and 
faith in Christ. 

On one of the wildest portions of the coast of New England 
there stands an old beacon tower, from whose summit there has 



112 



flashed for many a year a warning and guiding light for those 
**that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters." 
This tower is visible for many miles inland and also far out to sea. 
It has been in its accustomed place so long that travelers would be 
alarmed if by night they did not behold it sending forth the light, 
by which they could be guided into a safe harbor. 

Every Christian should be like this, for Jesus said: "Let 
your light so shine before men ; that they may see your good works 
and glorify your Father who is in heaven." 

A traveler visiting the lighthouse of Calais said to the keeper, 
'*But what if one of your lights should go out at night?" **Never! 
impossible!" he cried. **Sir , yonder are ships sailing to all parts 
of the world. If to-night one of my burners were out, in six 
months I should hear from America or India, saying that on such 
a night the lights of Calais Hghthouse gave no warning, and some 
vessel had been wrecked." All Christians should feel as deeply 
the responsibility that rests upon them as lights in the world. 



113 



Forty-seventh Sunday 



THE DUTY OF THANKFULNESS 

**Offer unto Cod the sacrifice of thanksgiving; and pa^ th^ vows 

unto the Most High,"" — Psalmist. '^'^ 



THE American Thanksgiving day dates its origin from the 
Pilgrim Fathers, who, at the very beginning of their coloniaF 

life recognized the leadings of Divine Providence by a sim- 
ple service of thanksgiving to the giver of all good. The example 
of the Pilgrims w^as not forgotten by the first leader of the new 
Republic and in 1 789, General Washington caused to be issued 
the first national Thanksgiving proclamation. In 1863, at the 
close of the Civil war Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation of 
thanksgiving for victory won; and since that time these proclama- 
tions have been annual. 

We recognize the appropriateness of the time of year desig- 
nated. The sowing time and the growing time are rightfully suc- 
ceeded by the harvest time, when the golden fruits of the season 
are garnered. 

We may wisely follow the custom of our ancestors, in offer- 
ing thanksgiving to Almighty God for blessings received. Let us 
this day unite most humbly in the offering of prayers and supplica- 
tions to the great God and ruler of all nations; beseeching Him to 
pardon all our transgressions that we may worthily * 'offer unto 
God the sacrifice of thanksgiving and pay our vows to the Most 
High." 

114 



"Thinkful" is the old anglo-saxon word for ''thankful", and 
it is true that a thoughtful mind makes a thankful heart. Moses 
saw God in the burning bush, because he * 'turned aside to see". 

We have heard of a grand musical festival, where the con- 
ductor suddenly threw up his baton, stopping the whole perform- 
ance. In the midst of the marvellous harmony of the great or- 
chestra, the director's keen ear missed the single note of one in- 
strument, which was failing to do it's part. 

Dearly beloved, in the celebration of our national Thanks- 
giving festival, when a chorus from angels and all the heavenly 
hosts; from sun, moon and stars of light; from mountains and all 
hills ; fruitful valleys and all cedars ; from young and old, rich and 
poor; with their mighty anthem ascending heavenward, I have 
wondered if the Heavenly Father, the divine conductor, detects a 
missing note of thankfulness from any heart. 

**Lei everything that hath breath praise Jehovah.** 



115 



DECEMBER 

"T^o this hard heart of mine 

And all the rvorld beside^ 

Bring thou thy song divine^ 

O blessed Christmas- tide! 
How long must Earth ivith war's discordant thunder 
From sea to sea be rocked — from height to height? 
How long will Christ-bought souls go forth to plunder^ 
And brazen wrongs do battle with the right? 

Sing, angel choir, again; 

Sing till the cannons rust! 

Sing till the hates of men 

Are trampled in the dust!** 

— Fred Clare Baldwin, 



«« 



Forty-eighth Sunday 



JESUS IN THE BOAT 

And He went up unto them into the boat; and the wind ceased.** 

— St Mark. 



ONE day, toward evening, when Christ was still on earth and 
in companionship with the disciples. He commanded them to 
take their boat and cross over the lake, leaving him to follow. 
Before they had reached deep water the night settled over them, 
and a strong head wind arose which raised the waves and made 
their progress slow and dangerous. Jesus stayed alone on the 
mountain, but saw how they were toiling and rowing. About three 
o*clock in the morning, just before the break of day, Jesus came 
near them, walking on the water and seemed disposed to pass by 
them. When the disciples saw him they were frightened. But 
Jesus spoke unto them, saying: **Be of good cheer: it is I; be not 
afraid." Peter being emboldened by the command of Jesus tried 
to walk on the water, but was frightened by the winds and waves. 
He cried for help and Jesus held out his hand and saved him. 
When Jesus stepped into the boat the wind ceased. This so deeply 
affected the disciples that they bowed down before Jesus and 
called him the Son of God. 

Jesus in the boat caused the storm to cease. How changed 
was the scene. He comes into our lives to strengthen faith; to 
cheer the heart and give peace to the soul. 

Reader, is Jesus in your boat? 

On another occasion, when Jesus was exhausted by the labors 
of the day and was with the disciples in a boat, he lay asleep upon 

118 



a pillow. A storm arose and the disciples were affrighted, saying 
**Carest thou not that we perish?" Then Jesus arose and rebuked 
the storm and there was a great calm. 

With Jesus in our boat we are safe amid the winds and 
storms of life. 




LOOKING TO JESUS 

Jesus, Saviour, Son of God, 
Bearer of the sinner's load, 
I to Thee will look and live. 
And, in looking, praises give. 
Looking lightens, looking heals. 
Looking all the gladness seals; 
Looking breaks the binding chain. 
Looking sets us free again; 
Looking scatters all our night. 
Makes our faces shine with light; 
Looking quickens, strengthens, brings 
Heavenly gladness on its wings. 
Jesus, Saviour, Son of God, 
Bearer of the sinner's load, 
I would rise to Thee above. 
I would look and praise and love; 
Ever looking let me be 
At the blood-besprinkled tree. 
Blessing Thee with lip and soul 
While the endless ages roll. 

— Horatious Bonar. 
119 



Forty-ninth Sunday 



ENTHUSIASM 

// is good to be zealously sought in a good matter at all times.** 

— St, PauL 



IF one could visit the gray, gloomy slopes of yonder valley, lying 
toward the sunset, would he not see the ghosts of vanished en- 
thusiasms? "Voiceless, somber, they linger listless among the 
tombs and whisper to the low chill winds the tale of their birth, 
the flush and fullness of their strong impetuous life; then the story 
of their death.'* 

That is what was meant by the aged man who said to the 
youth in deep confidence: **I ought to accept this call to this field 
of usefulness, but my enthusiasms are dead." The old veteran 
well knew that with dead enthusiasms he could never succeed at 
his task. He also knew the value of present enthusiasm. 

No less a man than Emerson said: "Nothing great was ever 
accomplished without enthusiasm." 

Modern politicians know this. If a great issue is at stake 
and there is likelihood of a close contest, they know that somehow 
there must be enlisted an enthusiasm that will arouse the indifferent 
and bring to pass a great victory. In the social world what is more 
disastrous to the purposes of society than lack of enthusiasm among 
the members? Indeed, what a dead world this would be without 
enthusiasm. 

In religion there should also be enthusiasm, almost without 
limit. Many pretend not to believe in this, though they m:iy be 

120 



enthusiastic in other matters. But Paul says '*It is good to be 
zealously sought in a good matter at all times." 

Now what is better than religion? Is there any cause in 
which men may more safely be enthusiastic? 

On the value of rehgious enthusiasm. Dr. J. M. Buckley 
writes : 

**It may be necessary sometimes to check excessive emotion, 
but we should never do it in any meeting unless it is necessary, and 
then do it quietly. Of course, if a man lets go of the rudder of 
reason and depends entirely on the wings of feeling, he has lost 
his manhood for the time. But there was a philosopher, as he 
thought, who bought a garden and planted in it some trees, and 
one tree grew unshapely and he put his wits together to keep it 
from growing unshapely. He made up his mind the cause of its 
growing was the sap, therefore he drew out a pint of sap every 
day and the tree did not grow unshapely because it did not grow 
at all. He called in a neighboring gardener to explain the matter. 
The experienced gardener said to him: *You took the sap out of 
the sapling. You ought to have drawn the sap out of your own 
head.* " 



121 



Fiftieth Sunday 



BEULAH LAND 

In mp Father* s house are many mansions; if it were not so I 
rvould have told you; for I go to prepare a place for 
you.** — Jesus. 



IN one of our religious papers some time ago there was related 
the story of a man, who, when dying, called his little daughter 
to his bedside and told her how dreadful he felt because he 
must die. In her childish faith she said: *'Why, papa, you have 
a beautiful home in the mountains, and a beautiful home in Flor- 
ida; and a beautiful home by the sea; haven't you a home in 
heaven?*' 

This man who had made such bountiful provision for this 
life was obHged to shake his head sadly and say that he did not 
know. How sad. Yet does not this man represent a class in the 
world who are thinking very little of the world beyond this? But 
the Saviour of mankind has not left us in ignorance concerning the 
heavenly world. 

Here, then, is the truth. We should make ready for eternity. 

A traveler, returned from Jerusalem, found, in conversation 
with Humboldt, that he was as conversant with the streets and 
houses of Jerusalem as he himself was. On being asked how long 
it was since he had visited it, the aged philosopher repHed, **I have 
never been there, but I expected to go sixty years ago, and I pre- 
pared myself." 

122 



Jerusalem the golden. 

With milk ^^d honey blest. 
Beneath thy contemplation 

Sink heart and voice oppressed: 
I k^ojv not, O I know not 

What social joys are there; 
What radiancy of glory. 

What light beyond com.pare. 

They stand, those halls of Zion, 

All jubilant with song. 
And bright with many an angel. 

And all the martyr throng: 
The Prince is ever in them. 

The daylight is serene; 
The pastures of the blessed 

Are decked in glorious sheen. 

There is the throne of David; 

And there, from care released. 
The song of them that triumph. 

The shout of them that feast; 
And they who, with their leader. 

Have conquered in the fight. 
Forever and forever 

Are clad in robes of white. 

O sweet and blessed country. 

The how.e of God's elect! 
O sweet and blessed country. 

That eager hearts expect! 
Jesus, in mercy bring us 

To that dear land of rest; 
Who art, with God the Father, 

And spirit, ever blest, 

— Bernard of Cluny. 



123 



Fifty-first Sunday 



WHAT THINK YE OF CHRIST? 



<i 



Who do men say that I am?** — Jesus, 



THIS is certainly a proper question to ask. Through all the 
centuries since his birth Christ has been on trial. Before the 
bar of pubHc opinion the meek and lowly one is standing. 
It is most interesting to note what various peoples thought of Him 
during his life on earth. 

To John the Baptist he was **The Lamb of God which 
taketh away the sins of the world'*. To the Roman Centurion he 
was **the Son of God". To the despairing Judas he was the 
"innocent blood". Of him Pilate said: **I find no fault in Him." 
The Apostle Peter declared *'Thou art the Christ, the Son of the 
Living God". Even doubting Thomas exclaimed **My Lord and 
my God", and Nicodemus said: **Thou art a Teacher come from 
God." 

Before the gaze of men who have lived since His time, Christ 
is the "fairest among ten thousand, the lily of the valley, the 
bright and morning star". The Mohammedan world gave him 
the high title of the Messiah and set Him above all the prophets. 
To Napoleon he was "the Emperor of Love". Jean Paul Richter 
calls Him "the holiest among the mighty and the mightiest among 
the holy, who lifted with His pierced hand empires off their 
hinges, and turned the stream of centuries out of its channel, and 
still governs the ages". 

124 



In the light of these tributes we may also fearlessly declare 
that the life, character and works of Christ are unquestionably 
attested by those who struggled to disbeheve Him, and at last bore 
witness in His favor. Dr. Barnes even suggests that * 'unconscious- 
ly, unadmittedly, Jesus was the *star' of faith which Robert Ingef- 
soU saw rising in the night of death, and as it's light fell upon the 
new-made grave, he mistook the benediction of comfort profFered 
by the pierced hands for the rustle of an angel's wing." 

What we think of Christ affects materially our conduct. He 
demands a personal answer. He first asked *'Who do men say 
that I am?" But that is not enough. Of His followers in all ages. 
He asks ** But who do pe say that I am?" 

If this important question is still unanswered by any who 
read these lines, why not this moment surrender yourself to Him? 

It is said that Wagner's earliest compositions were in the 
manner of Beethoven. But was not there good reason for this? 
For years when a youth, he had lived with Beethoven's composi- 
tions, until he knew them by heart; the spirit of the teacher had 
completely mastered the spirit of the pupil. The result of imitation 
was inevitable. Will not the spirit of our Master, Christ, pass 
upon us, if with similar devotion we seek to reproduce the genius 
of his life in ours? 



125 



Fifty-second Sunday 



CHRISTMAS CHEER 

**Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy rvhich shall be to 

all the People.'* — St Luke, 



THE spirit of Christmas has captured the world. The festival 
becomes universal in spite of reHgious antagonisms. Christ- 
mas cheer is the legitimate child of Christianity. Because 
Jehovah lavished upon the world His greatest "gift" the world 
has made the Saviour's birthday the chief gift season of the year. 
We do well to heartily wish that the spirits of **Christmas 
Past", "Christmas Present" and "Christmas to Come" might 
wake up every miser "Scrooge" to hearty benevolence and that 
every poor "Bob Cratchit" with his "Tiny Tim" might have a 
blessed day in his humble home. 

The true spirit of giving is a heart quality. Customs may 
demand certain formalities, but the true spirit of giving does not 
wait. The ancients regarded the offering of a gift the token of 
good will. The acceptance of a gift was the sign of good will 
reciprocated. 

Giving is not a helpful practice unless it is prompted by lofty 
sentiment. Two evils should be avoided in the matter — careless- 
ness and extravagance. The Christmas season prompts both the 
custom and the spirit of giving. It is the time to be truly happy. 
To give and forgive. God's great gift to the world was the Christ. 
"He so loved that He GAVE." 



126 



The visit of the Wise Men at the birth chamber of Christ 
illustrates the true spirit of giving. They came seeking the Saviour. 
Finding Him, "they fell down and worshiped*'. They offered 
Him the homage of their souls. They brought the homage of 
heart and of earth; they opened their treasures; they offered their 
gifts; they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. The true cheer of 
Christmas is found in the love of Christ — in paying homage to the 
Christ. ••On earth peace among men" is the Christmas greeting 
of Christian cheer. 




CHRISTMAS BELLS 

**Sing, Christmas bells! 
Say to the earth. This is the morn 
Whereon our Saviour-King is born; 

Sing to all men — the bond, the free. 
The rich, the poor, the high, the low — 
The little child that sports in glee — 
The aged folk that tottering go — 
Proclaim the morn 
That Christ is born, 
That saveth them, that saveth me!" 

— Selected, 



127 



Fifty-third Sunday 



A LOOK AT THE PAST 

And God seeketh again thai which is passed an>ay,** — Solomon, 



IT is related of a great statesman of the South that when he was 
passing away, some one asked if they should pray for him. 
He replied: *'No, my past Hfe must be my prayer." This 
sentiment was entirely in harmony with the truth set forth in the 
words of Solomon. 

The past has been, and is sealed forever. The present now 
is ; the future will be what we make it. But few who reflect upon 
the past do so without regret, sorrow or joy. Regret, because of 
sins committed, wrongs done or duties left undone. Sorrow, be- 
cause of deaths, disappointments, troubles. Joy, because of once 
youthful days, when cares were unknown, pleasures unbounded, 
hopes radiant, skies unclouded; when, in the language of Thomas 
Gray, * 'Youth was on the bow and pleasure at the helm". Then, 
there is joy over good deeds done and kind words spoken, if such 
has been the record. 

It may not always be helpful to brood over the past. Some 
lives are especially full of unpleasant memories. But the past is a 
great teacher and if we sit patiently at the feet of this learned 
sage, many lessons, helpful both to our temporal and spiritual lives 
may be learned. Most people at certain times fall into meditation 
and may say as did David "While I was musing the fire burned'*. 

128 



There is no life entirely without some sunshine; some blessing; 
some joy. 

The experiences we have, the gifts and blessings bestowed 
upon us, are the result of an over-ruling Providence, and we shall 
be held accountable for the spirit wdth which we receive them and 
the use we make of them. While man possesses a will, by which 
he does or does not live in harmony with the Divine purpose, God 
is unceasingly at work in many ways whereby He may lead him 
into the fellowship of his children, by at last winning his heart, 
his will, his all. No blessing or kindness bestowed is for an idle 
purpose. All is done in love and for the purpose of drawing us 
nearer to Him. 

The past cannot be undone. 

'*Onl^ a thought, but the work it wrought. 
Could never b^ tongue or pen be taught 
For it ran through life like a thread of gold 
And the life bore fruit a hundred fold, 
Onl}) a word, but *twas spoken in love. 
With a whispered prayer to the Lord above; 
And the angels in heaven rejoiced once more 
For a new-born soul entered in fcp the door,** 

— Jesse Gordon. 



129 
















> «•«' 






T^ki^: 



'^rk 



** 

*< '" 



5 









♦*. 






*>r^ 



^ 
«- 








^n 



1 

1 







PreservationTechnologies 

A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 



1 1 1 Thomson Park Dnve 
Cranberry Township. PA 16066 
{724)779-2111 



^ ^'^^ 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



I 9:: 






017 053 685 A • 



«1 



